Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work: 208 (Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, 208) [1st ed. 2020] 3030185923, 9783030185923

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Table of contents :
Preface
Contents
About the Editors
Social Work
Mourning Protocols in Nursing Homes
1 Introduction
2 Mourning and Elderly People
3 Nursing Homes and the Mourning Process
4 Methodology
5 Results
6 Discussion
7 Conclusion
References
Social Work System and Social Innovations in Romania. Challenges and Opportunities
1 Introduction. The Legal View of Integrated Approach
2 Methodology and Circumstances
3 Critical Analyse of Legal and Real Challenges and Opportunities for Social Innovation
4 Conclusions
References
Violence in Adolescence from a Social Work Perspective: A Qualitative Study
1 Introduction
2 Theory
2.1 Social Work in Adolescence: Areas and Contexts of Work
2.2 Social Work and Adolescence
2.3 Social Welfare, Education and Social Work
2.4 Social Work and Violence in Adolescence
3 Analyses of Results
3.1 Methodology
3.2 Procedure
3.3 Analysis of Qualitative Data
3.4 Reliability and Validity Measures
4 Results
5 Discussion
6 Conclusion and Perspectives
References
Social Work: Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education Policies Review and Reflection
1 Introduction
2 Educational Diversity and Inclusion
3 Education for Diversity in Higher Education
4 Social Work in the University Context: Literature Review
5 Conclusions and Challenges for the Future
Bibliography
Analysis of the Occupational Health of a Group of Social Workers
1 Introduction
2 Theory
3 Analyses of Results
3.1 Methodology
3.2 Results
3.3 Discussion
4 Conclusion
References
Measurement of Disability in Romania. In Search for Comparability
1 The Washington City Group: International Acknowledgement of the Need to Have Comparability in Statistics Concerning Disability
2 National Data, European Data, Global Data
3 Causes for the Differences
4 Conclusions
References
Researching Ageing by the Life Course Perspective
1 Introduction
2 Methodology of the Study: Events and Life Experience of Cohort Born Between 1935 and 1945, from a Life Course Perspective
2.1 Research Aim and Perspective
2.2 Research Design Protocol
3 Results and Discussions
4 Conclusions
References
Time Banks Within the Framework of the Collaborative Economy. A Case Study
1 Introduction
2 Time Banks
3 Case Study
3.1 Sample Context
3.2 Satisfaction
3.3 Confidence
4 Conclusions
References
How the Local Welfare System in Italy Changes: From Planning to Co-planning
1 Introduction
2 From Planning …
3 … to Co-planning
4 Conclusions
References
Mediating the Social: Competences and Actions into Intervention
1 Introduction
2 Evolutions and Development in the Social Work
3 From the Bidirectional to the Trifocal Dimension
4 Patterns of Mediation
4.1 The Collaborative Model Oriented to the Collaborative Solution
4.2 The Socio-clinical Model
4.3 The Systemic Model
4.4 The Humanistic/Transformative Model
4.5 Interactive Mediation
4.6 Socio-cultural Approach
4.7 Constituent Phase
4.8 Divergent Phase
4.9 Convergent Phase
5 Conclusions
References
Educations and Teaching Issues
Trends in Health Education Training for Primary Teachers in Spain. Student Proposals for Change
1 Introduction
2 Theory
2.1 Health Education in Curricula
2.2 Health Education in Spain: Current Situation
3 Analyses of Results
3.1 Methodology
3.2 Results
3.3 Discussion
4 Conclusion
References
Learning Environment as Bridge Between School and Community
1 Communicational Requirements: From Social Context to School Context
2 Learning Environment as Key for Interpretation and Action
3 Teacher’s Role
4 Conclusions
References
Educational Models of Social Cohesion in Marginal Contexts: The Social Space as an Educational Agent
1 Education as a Process: A Model of Social Cohesion
2 Advanced Marginality, Symbolic Power and Identity Process
3 Education as a Tool for Social Cohesion in Advanced Marginal Contexts
References
Project of Education in Oral Health Caregivers and Residents of Centres of Unit Agreed with the Ministry of Equality, Health and Social Policies
1 Introduction
2 Methodology
2.1 Variables
2.2 Afterwards Sessions
3 Analysis of Results
3.1 First Assessment
3.2 After the First Visit
4 Conclusions
5 Discussion
References
The Perception of Teachers on the Quality of Primary School Mathematics Textbooks in Oyo State, Nigeria
1 Introduction
2 Objectives of the Study
3 Methodology of the Study
4 Result and Discussion
5 Conclusion
References
Training Requirements of the Andalusian Volunteer Program
1 Introduction
2 Social Movements
3 Voluntary Action in Spain
4 The Motivation of Volunteering. Solidarity from a Critic Perspective
5 Methodology
5.1 Hypotheses
5.2 Selection Sample and Procedure
5.3 Tools for Data Collection
6 Results of the Study
6.1 Results of the Questionnaires
7 Conclusions
References
MOOC in Higher Education from the Students’ Perspective. A Sustainable Model?
1 Introduction
2 Educational Panorama of MOOCs in the University Sphere
3 MOOC: Strengths, Weaknesses and Challenges
4 Context of the Investigation
5 Methodology
6 Results
7 Conclusion
References
Introducing E-learning to a Traditional University: A Case-Study
1 Introduction
2 University of Nova Gorica and Its Motivation for E-learning
3 The Process of Introducing E-Learning to the University of Nova Gorica
3.1 When and How Did It Start?
3.2 Spreading Virtual Classrooms over the University
3.3 Following the Progress
4 Benefits of Using Virtual Classrooms
5 Difficulties and Proposals How to Overcome Them
6 Conclusion
References
Problems and Decision-Making Models in the First Cycle of Education
1 Introduction
2 Information, Training, Competition and Cooperation
3 The Management of Conflict and Relationality
4 A Case Study with Application of Sociometric Matrices
5 The Analytic Hierarchy Process of Saaty for Decisions Making
6 New Mathematical Tools for the Formalization of Relations in Schools: Fuzzy Sets and Algebraic Hyperstructures
7 Conclusions
References
Visual Literacy and Teaching in the Education of Mother Language
1 Introduction
2 What is Visual Literacy?
3 Visuals in Education
4 Usage of Photographs in Visual Literacy
5 Ussage of Pictures in Visual Literacy
6 Student’s Activities with Visuals
6.1 Visual Material Props
6.2 First Text: Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi’s Seven Advices
6.3 Second Text: Maxim Gorky My Universities
6.4 Samples for Photograph Explanations
7 Conclusion
8 Results and Recommendations
References
Formalization of Decision Problems of the Head Teacher
1 Introduction
2 Didactic Communication
2.1 Communicative Styles
3 The AHP Decision-Making Process to Weigh the Evaluation Criteria for a “Good School”
4 Definition of the Alternatives and Assessment of Their Scores
5 Conclusions and Research Perspectives
References
Recent Trends on Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Social-Economic Systems and Social Work
Pedagogical Helping Relationship in Family Problems
1 Pedagogy, and the Professional Pedagogist
2 Basic Features and Tools
3 Some Salient Steps in the Pedagogical Helping Relation
4 Tools of Greek-Classical Origin
5 Looking for Professional Pedagogical Tools in Latin Culture
6 Pedagogy of the School in the Pedagogical Profession
7 The Foundation of the Sozialpädagogik
8 Fromm, Frankl, Schultz
9 Towards an Actual Professional Exercise
10 A Case of a Neo-Nuclear Family
11 The Construction of a New Couple’s Balance
12 Clinical Casuistry
References
Analysis of the Sociability of Older People in Urban Environments
1 Introduction
2 Methodology
3 Results
4 Conclusions
5 Proposals for Improvement
References
Professional Insights on Intercultural Intervention in Diversity Contexts
1 Introduction
2 Theory
2.1 Different Societies and Interculturality
2.2 Intercultural Competence
2.3 Professional Practice and Intercultural Competence
3 Analysis of Results
3.1 Methodology
3.2 Results
4 Discussion and Conclusions
References
The Study of Cycles of Protest: Approaches to the Case of Spain
1 Introduction
2 Political Conflict and Cyclical Elements
3 Methodological Details for the Study of Cycles of Protest and Data
4 The Indignados Political Conflict: Cyclical Characteristics
5 Conclusions
References
Life Stories of Elders and Their Significant Objects
1 Life Stories, Social Memory and Cultural Representations
2 About Identities
3 Memories, Objects and Identities
4 Memory as a Social Phenomenon
5 Memories and Significant Objects
6 Conclusion
Bibliography
The “LIVE” Time and the Feedback Instantaneity: The Need of a New Perspective
1 Introduction
2 The Representation and the Flows Space
3 The Idea of Space … and Time
4 A New “Perspective”
5 Conclusion
References
Gender Violence and New Technologies
1 Introduction
2 Violence and New Technologies
3 Gender Violence and New Technologies
4 Methodology
5 Results
6 Discussion
7 Conclusion
References
Myths and Realities in the Employability of Young People Working in the Hotel Sector
1 Introduction
2 Dilemmas, Context and Conceptual Framework
3 Methodology
4 Results
5 Conclusions
Appendix
References
Environment and Latest Trends in Social Sciences
1 Introduction
2 Theory
2.1 Environmental Conflicts
2.2 Sustainable Development
2.3 Ecophilosophies
3 Analyses of Results
3.1 Methodology
3.2 Results of the Bibliographic Inquiry
4 Discussion
4.1 Social Sciences and Environment
5 Conclusions
References
Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI). European Guidelines and Empirical Applications on the Territory
1 Introduction
2 Background: Information Technology and DESI Index
2.1 Dimension
2.2 DESI Composite
2.3 Italian Situation
2.4 Connectivity
2.5 Human Capital
2.6 Use of Internet
2.7 Integration of Digital Technology
2.8 Digital Public Services
3 Research Design
4 Preliminary Results: Mapping of Abruzzo Digital Economy Data
5 Digital Agenda Abruzzo Region: Swot Analysis and Open Source System
6 Discussion and Future Work
References
Life Cycle of the Crisis Situation Threat and Its Various Models
1 Introduction
1.1 The Life Cycle Concept
1.2 Basic Phases of a Threat Life Cycle
2 The Otava River Levels in the Town of Písek
2.1 Piecewise-Linear Functions Approximation
2.2 Approximation by Another Ten Types of Functions by Using the CAS Maple
3 The Blanice River Levels in Heřmaň Municipality
3.1 Piecewise-Linear Functions Approximation
3.2 Approximation by Another Ten Types of Functions by Using the CAS Maple
4 Conclusion
References
Evaluation Criteria of Preparedness for Emergency Events Within the Emergency Medical Services
1 Introduction
2 Analysis of the Issue
3 Methods Used
4 The Approach Proposed for Assessing the Preparedness of an Emergency Preparedness Unit for Emergency Events
5 Conclusion
References
The Design Process. Social Planning and Decision-Making Logic
1 Introduction
2 The Design Model of the Regulatory Organization
3 Design, Complexity and Contingent Rationality
4 Relationship Design and Communication Dimensions
5 Conclusions
References
Sociological Analysis and Social Change
1 Social Change, Theory and Analysis
2 Social Change in the Sociology of Origin
3 Social Change as a ‘Vague’ Concept
4 Conclusion
References
Logic of Social Science and Social Innovation: Between Strategical Planning and New Partnership Welfare Models
1 Welfare Community and Social Innovation
2 Towards a Multidimensional Social Planning Model
3 Social Integration and Planning: Operative Convergences
4 Welfare Partnership as a “Natural” Delevopment of Social Programming
5 Conclusion
References
Safe Landscape as an Ecological Subsystem
1 Introduction
2 Rural Versus Urban
3 Cultural Heritage Protection and Preservation
4 Safe Sustainable Tourism
5 Safety for Everyone
6 Conclusion
References
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Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208

José Luis Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano Fabrizio Maturo Šárka Hošková-Mayerová Editors

Qualitative and Quantitative Models in SocioEconomic Systems and Social Work

Studies in Systems, Decision and Control Volume 208

Series Editor Janusz Kacprzyk, Systems Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

The series “Studies in Systems, Decision and Control” (SSDC) covers both new developments and advances, as well as the state of the art, in the various areas of broadly perceived systems, decision making and control–quickly, up to date and with a high quality. The intent is to cover the theory, applications, and perspectives on the state of the art and future developments relevant to systems, decision making, control, complex processes and related areas, as embedded in the fields of engineering, computer science, physics, economics, social and life sciences, as well as the paradigms and methodologies behind them. The series contains monographs, textbooks, lecture notes and edited volumes in systems, decision making and control spanning the areas of Cyber-Physical Systems, Autonomous Systems, Sensor Networks, Control Systems, Energy Systems, Automotive Systems, Biological Systems, Vehicular Networking and Connected Vehicles, Aerospace Systems, Automation, Manufacturing, Smart Grids, Nonlinear Systems, Power Systems, Robotics, Social Systems, Economic Systems and other. Of particular value to both the contributors and the readership are the short publication timeframe and the world-wide distribution and exposure which enable both a wide and rapid dissemination of research output. ** Indexing: The books of this series are submitted to ISI, SCOPUS, DBLP, Ulrichs, MathSciNet, Current Mathematical Publications, Mathematical Reviews, Zentralblatt Math: MetaPress and Springerlink.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13304

José Luis Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano Fabrizio Maturo Šárka Hošková-Mayerová •



Editors

Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work

123

Editors José Luis Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano Universidad Pablo de Olavide Seville, Spain Šárka Hošková-Mayerová Department of Mathematics and Physics University of Defence Brno, Czech Republic

Fabrizio Maturo Biostatistics Unit, CRF National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland

ISSN 2198-4182 ISSN 2198-4190 (electronic) Studies in Systems, Decision and Control ISBN 978-3-030-18592-3 ISBN 978-3-030-18593-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Preface

The book Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-economic Systems and Social Work is part of the series Studies in Systems, Decision and Control published by Springer. This volume is the result of an international scientific collaboration among Prof. José Luis Sarasola from the Department of Social Work and Social Services of the “Pablo de Olavide” University, Seville (Spain), Dr. Fabrizio Maturo, Researcher in Biostatistics from the National University of Ireland, Galway, and Prof. Šárka Hošková-Mayerová from the Department of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Defence, Brno (Czech Republic). As highlighted in the title of the book, this deals with various topics related to the socio-economic sciences and focuses on both qualitative and quantitative issues. All the studies included in this volume have been selected after a peer review process. The first part of the book, namely Social Work, starts with the contribution “Mourning Protocols in Nursing Homes”, by Ana Vallejo Andrada, Evaristo Barrera Algarín, and José Luis Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano, who discuss the topic of mourning in the nursing home environment and how the existence or non-existence of a mourning protocol can modify or not the quality of the work in this sector. To demonstrate it, they have surveyed 58 nursing home workers of different ages, from different locations and with different specialities. Daniela-Tatiana Şoitu, in Chapter “Social Work System and Social Innovations in Romania. Challenges and Opportunities”, shows how the social work arena has become emergent in Romania during the last few decades, as it has been in all former European communist countries. New legislation and new quality standards for social services have been developed, but the social phenomenon still faces the challenge of a timely adaptation of social policies and practices. After desk research, interviews with social and healthcare providers of social services to the elderly are offering qualitative data for our study. A critical analysis is underpinning the chapter, underlining the challenges and opportunities for social innovations. The conclusions point to a suitable use of resources, including human resources— experienced professionals, but also users/clients.

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Chapter “Violence in Adolescence from a Social Work Perspective: A Qualitative Study” is the title of the research paper by Rosa María Varela Garay, Rafael Gómez del Toro, and Cristian Suárez Relinque. The authors analyse the role played by social workers in the field of violence in adolescence; it is analysed from the perspective of a group of people professionally and academically linked to social work. To such end, a qualitative study is carried out following the grounded theory method. The results indicate that, according to the participants, the performance of social workers is excessively limited in the field of violence in adolescence and shows deficiencies in academic training at theoretical and practical levels. The study “Social Work: Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education Policies Review and Reflection”, by Carmen Miguel Vicente, Silvia Patricia Cury, Andrés Arias Astray, and José Manuel Fernández Fernández, examines the issue of equal opportunities and inclusivity for members of the university community. The authors present a proposal on the role of social work in universities, and they describe how it can contribute to promoting acceptance of differences and the implementation of inclusive measures. Yolanda Borrego-Alés, Octavio Vázquez-Aguado, and Alejandro OrgambídezRamos present the Chapter “Analysis of the Occupational Health of a Group of Social Workers”. This contribution deals with the new positive perspective of the psychology of occupational health. From this perspective, engagement appears as a key concept in the welfare and motivation of these workers. In this sense, the objective of this study is to describe the level of engagement in the work of a sample of social workers in the province of Huelva (Spain) based on labour and socio-demographic characteristics. The results of this research suggest that the increase of labour and personal resources in social workers would increase the levels of engagement and the improvement of both health and quality of care for users of social and community centres. The contribution “Measurement of Disability in Romania. In Search for Comparability”, by Conţiu Tiberiu Şoitu, examines to what extent the methods of measuring a statistical indicator (incidence of disability) make possible comparisons that can be used for shaping social policy and practice at national or regional level. Findings indicate significant differences between the results of various studies. This can be explained by objective reasons, mainly demographics, but—especially—by subjective reasons related to the definition and measurement features. The main findings indicate a need to rethink the whole process of measuring and predicting a major increase in resources necessary for care in the medium term. Daniela-Tatiana Şoitu, in her Chapter “Researching Ageing by the Life Course Perspective”, discusses the problem of ageing, which is a continuum process, and life course perspective is the new way to analyse, to understand, to follow it, and to explain it. The study is argumentative and illustrative on this matter, using data collected by interviews with older adults from the same cohort. Conclusions go to the benefit of life course perspective in studying, understanding the individual growing and ageing.

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Chapter “Time Banks Within the Framework of the Collaborative Economy. A Case Study” by Macarena Lozano-Oyola and Alberto Sarasola Fernández deals with a new vision of the economy, i.e. collaborative economy, extending its areas of action projects arising in different aspects such as holidays and accommodation, housing, mobility, finance, energy, information and communications technology, and exchange of goods and services. Within these areas, the authors focus on the banks of time, an initiative that has been consolidated in recent years, partly because of the situation of sustained global economic crisis. As a case study, they use the time bank Nervion-San Pablo de Sevilla. Valentina Savini, in her article “How the Local Welfare System in Italy Changes: From Planning to Co-planning”, aims to describe the transition from planning to co-planning in the formulation of social projects. The purpose of this contribution is to relate the normative dictate of the Framework Law number 328/2000 and the empirical translation of the principle of horizontal subsidiarity through the instrument—social and legal—of co-planning. Francesca Pia Scardigno, in her Chapter “Mediating the Social: Competences and Actions into Intervention”, takes into account the central role of social mediation in operational terms, not intended as an attempt to solve conflicts between opposite parties, but like the genuine and effective dimension of trifocal social intervention, i.e. the type of intervention which, beyond the bidirectional elapsing gap between professionals and customers, is able to integrate roles, strategic functions, and actions by involving simultaneous multidimensional actors (individuals, communities, institutions), which interact in the proximal, relational, and social area surrounding the professional and the customer at a specific local context. The second part of the book, namely Educations and Teaching Issues, starts with the contribution of Vicente Llorent-Bedmar, Verónica Cobano-Delgado, and Mercedes Llorent-Vaquero, which is titled “Trends in Health Education Training for Primary Teachers in Spain. Student Proposals for Change”. This chapter considers the opinion of primary education students in public universities in Andalusia on their basic training in health education. Adopting a survey sample consisted of 499 students, the authors conclude that health education in schools is widely felt to be insufficient and it should be given more importance in primary teacher training. Particularly, they propose the incorporation of health education into schools’ educational projects, coherently including it in the curricula and lesson plans of primary schools. Chapter “Learning Environment as Bridge Between School and Community”, by Fiorella Paone, considers the concept of learning environment as an organized space of action, a place of relation both physical, mental, and virtual able to integrate emotional and cognitive aspects of the students. She stresses that planning a learning environment means simultaneously acting on different aspects which affect educational dynamics, taking care, and managing its complexity, not only introducing new educational ways of working, but above all standing as complementary and joining factor of pre-existing methodologies, re-arranging, and re-qualifying them with an epistemic vision that gives value to their elements and validate their foundations.

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Isotta Mac Fadden contributes with the article “Educational Models of Social Cohesion in Marginal Contexts: The Social Space as an Educational Agent”. She analyses the relationship between the advance of social marginality and education as a tool of social cohesion, making an exploratory study of a qualitative nature that is limited to the scope of the doctoral study by the same author, started in 2015: “Advanced Marginality and Social Space: New Models of Cohesion, El cado de Torreblanca”. Alfredo Antonio Reinoso Santiago is the author of “Project of Education in Oral Health Caregivers and Residents of Centres of Unit Agreed with the Ministry of Equality, Health and Social Policies”. He underlines that health starts with prevention and the fostering, in the field of oral health in our health clinics in Andalusia, and assistant staff have a shortage of knowledge about how to perform these activities. For this reason, a programme of health prevention and awareness has being carried out. The main aim has been to analyse the oral health quality of locals before and after the programme, as well as determining the oral health indexes and the effectiveness of the aforementioned programme. Bolanle Oluyemisi Fagbola and Babatunde Oluwaseun Onasanya present the study “The Perception of Teachers on the Quality of Primary School Mathematics Textbooks in Oyo State, Nigeria”. The authors deal with the problem of education and textbooks, which play a central role in the teaching and learning of mathematics. They stresses that there is ample evidence that the books used in schools in some parts of the world, Nigeria inclusive, are below standard. Difficult and poorly written textbooks in the primary schools were contributing to the high rate of early dropout in Nigeria. The study evaluates the quality of mathematics textbooks in Oyo State, Nigeria. It reveals that there is need for publishers and authors of textbooks to improve on print, quality of paper, illustration, exercises, diagrams, pictures, language, local example, colour combination, back cover, size, durability, presentation, font size, binding, and finishing of mathematics textbooks. Then, the research Chapter “Training Requirements of the Andalusian Volunteer Program”, authored by José Luis Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano, María Pérez Lagares, and Laura Pacheco Montero, focuses on the analysis of training requirements in volunteering, with reference to the autonomous community of Andalusia. Through the analysis of data acquired via various collection techniques, insight into differing perspectives of the agents involved in the world of volunteering may be gained. This research begins with a critical evaluation into the existence of people who spend part of their free time tackling situations which should be the responsibility of governmental administrations; however, its absence makes solidarity a value on the rise which requires these altruist actions to be responsible, trained, and critic. Eloy López Meneses, Esteban Vázquez Cano, and Isotta Mac Fadden, in their contribution “MOOC in Higher Education from the Students’ Perspective. A Sustainable Model?”, analyses, from the perspective of students, the positioning of MOOCs in the Panorama University, determining their characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, and the main challenges to achieve sustainability. The research is based on a methodology based on virtual ethnography, and the qualitative analysis of university innovation experiences on the perception of 56 students who study

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“Information and Communication Technology” at the Pablo de Olavide University, Seville (Spain), following a Degree in Social Education corresponding to the academic year 2016–17. The results show that the main advantages of this type of courses are its wide offer, its open access, and the possibilities of accessing free audio-visual materials and establishing networks among the participating students. The study “Introducing E-Learning to a Traditional University: A Case-Study” by Donatella Gubiani, Irina Cristea, and Tanja Urbančič concerns with a transformation of educational activities at a traditional university towards a more flexible and open education—a process that higher education institutions consider with the aim of adapting to the needs of new generations. As one of the elements in this process, virtual classrooms and e-learning are therefore being introduced not only at open universities offering distant learning, but also at other, traditional universities where face-to-face learning prevails. The chapter focuses on this process and analyses the situation at the University of Nova Gorica (Slovenia) as a case study. Luciana Delli Rocili and Antonio Maturo propose the research article “Problems and Decision-Making Models in the First Cycle of Education”, in which they discuss two main issues. The first one concerns the management of interpersonal relations in the school, in particular the relationship between teachers and students, between teachers and families of the students, and between students and students. The other is the realization of an interdisciplinary teaching that exceeds the fragmentation of knowledge and unifies the logical structures of the various disciplines. They show that the formal modelling of problems—represented as decisional problems, eventually under uncertainty, with many objectives and decision makers —offers a substantial aid to the solution, or at least to clarify the problems, and to reach a consensus. Moreover, fuzzy reasoning, more flexible and adaptable of the classic reasoning, helps in the analysis of relations and in the evaluation of alternatives. Gamze Çelik, in Chapter “Visual Literacy and Teaching in the Education of Mother Language”, discusses how teachers use visual literacy, especially in their lessons for mother language lessons. We can infer visual’s messages better via visuals smoothly. It is vital because of our lives. Subjects’ of this study were 4th class students of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkish Language Education Department. The investigation was done with 8 students (6 females and 2 males) in the campus in the spring semester of 2017–2018 education years. The data of the study were collected by using qualitative approaches. In addition, document analysis was used in the study. The study results revealed that photographs and pictures can be used by making relation with visuals and texts in class environment for mother language education and training for better learning outcome. The final contribution of this part is by Antonio Maturo and Renata Santarossa. In the chapter, “Formalization of Decision Problems of the Head Teacher”, the authors focus on the training success, because of the choices made by a Head Teacher in the current Italian school system and will be completed with the use of mathematical tools for the analysis of the data obtained to identify which actions to implement to raise the levels of learning of students through schooling. The mathematical tool used in this work is the analytic hierarchy process of Saaty.

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The final part of the book, namely Recent Trends on Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Social-economic Systems and Social Work, starts with the chapter of Franco Blezza who proposes the research paper “Pedagogical Helping Relationship in Family Problems”, in which he outlines the general features of professional pedagogist performance and passes in brief review such instruments the pedagogist may employ in his professional practice, from the ancient greek and latin origins, until recent centuries. Chapter “Analysis of the Sociability of Older People in Urban Environments”, by Evaristo Barrera Algarín, María Josefa Vázquez-Fernández, and Alberto Sarasola Fernández reviews the importance for older people of using, accessing, and occupying spaces in the city. Based on data collected through research carried out in the city of Seville, the differences in the use of spaces according to the age of the population, the deficits that these spaces show, and their relationship with the situation of dependency on older people are shown. Manuela A. Fernández-Borrero, Fernando Relinque-Medina, and Susana MartíGarcía, in their Chapter “Professional Insights on Intercultural Intervention in Diversity Contexts”, deal with the perceptions of social practitioners in the context of cultural diversity. This research consists of a qualitative and network analysis about important intervention elements and difficulties. They underline the relevant aspects of intercultural management, the relevance of considering context such as the action framework, and the importance of training and emotional aspects. The following chapter is titled “The Study of Cycles of Protest: Approaches to the Case of Spain” and is presented by Daniel Gutiérrez-Marín and María Rosa Herrera Gutiérrez. This chapter studies secondary data (Annuals of the Ministry of the Interior) to relate protest events in Spain with those occurring in the rest of the world, using the model applied by Tarrow, in the case of Italian protests, and Herrera, in the Argentinian protest. The hypothesis is that the Indignados Movement in Spain is the local expression of a global movement, framed within the Anti-Austerity Movement. Based on the concept of the “cycle of protests”, the frequency, intensity, sectoral spread, and demands put forward have been analysed to determine the existence of a cycle of protests in Spain, in which the Indignados protest developed. Ana Felisbela de Albuquerque Piedade, in Chapter “Life Stories of Elders and Their Significant Objects” deals with social memory that is built during a long-time line and particularly how old people’s memory and identity are based in significant objects. The chapter attempts to delineate old people’s self-perceptions and what means to be old. To do so, some life narratives from a group of old people—man and women—were collected and transformed in life stories. The contribution “The “LIVE” Time and the Feedback Instantaneity: The Need of a New Perspective”, which is authored by Serena Sanseviero, deals with the problem of the digital convergence of all media in the last two decades, which makes these media (mobile, iPod, game consoles, netbooks, now the I-pad) something very different from the average of our recent past. In fact, with a mobile we can continue to make calls, but also check calendar appointments, browse the Web, read and send email, update profiles in Facebook, take pictures, and shoot

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video. The digital language transforms it in a powerful multimedia station: much more than a phone. This ability to “do many things” with the same tool (intermediality) is not the only characteristic of the specific digital media communication. The implications of these aspects are analysed in this research. Ana Vallejo Andrada, Judith Jorge Sanchez, and José Luis Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano in their research “Gender Violence and New Technologies” focus on social networks to analyse how they could affect or not affect people’s relationships. José Luis Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano and Elena Hornillo Araujo, in Chapter “Myths and Realities in the Employability of Young People Working in the Hotel Sector”, present a research, developed in a framework of Ph.D. work, resulting in a doctoral dissertation presented at the end of 2013. The methodology of qualitative orientation focuses its attention on the voices of the young workers in the sector of the hotel sector from Andalusian area in Spain, as main source of information. The aim is to analyse and describe the work and social situation of working youth in the hotel and tourism sector, describing both their profiles and beliefs, feelings, and disappointments (tensions, insecurities, illusions, satisfactions, disappointments, frustrations, misunderstandings, etc.) in their work context, in order to know the most important landmark of their work experience. Marta Vigo Cancela, in her research “Environment and Latest Trends in Social Sciences”, discusses the increase of the anthropic impact on the environment and the risk that they mean for life. This chapter provides a reflection on current trends in the social sciences that address the environmental problem, especially in Latin America. The reflection is based on the investigation of the most recent publications on eco-philosophies referred to: Territorial Intelligence, Ecological Ethics, Ecological Citizenship, Political Ecology, and Good Living. Chapter “Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI). European Guidelines and Empirical Applications on the Territory” is the research paper authored by Vanessa Russo. The topic of this paper, in a first part, is to understand the development and applications of DESI index. Finally, following the European guidelines on index DESI, an application on Abruzzo’s territory for rebuilding a framework of technological development of the region will be made. Radovan Potůček, in his Chapter “Life Cycle of the Crisis Situation Threat and Its Various Models”, deals with crisis life cycle and its various models. Two specific data sets collected during the floods in the Czech Republic in 2013 are used for presenting various life cycle models of a threat and risk dynamics. The best results in the data approximation by the least squares using polynomial functions of degree 2–5, two types of linear–exponential, linear–logarithmic, linear–irrational, quadratic–goniometric, cubic–goniometric, and piecewise-linear function were achieved by approximation of the piecewise-linear function, which corresponds best to life cycle model of a threat and risk dynamics. Irena Tušer and Josef Navrátil, in their contribution “Evaluation Criteria of Preparedness for Emergency Events Within the Emergency Medical Services”, introduce the problem of the current level of preparedness of the Integrated Rescue System and the activities provided by the Emergency Medical Services, which have

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a direct effect on saving lives and the health of people. The authors stress that it is very important to find mechanisms, procedures, or, if need be, criteria that will enable the assessment of the preparedness level of the Emergency Medical Services before the occurrence of an emergency event. The paper proposes evaluation criteria and indicators that can be used for assessing preparedness within the Emergency Medical Services. Gabriele Di Francesco, in his Chapter “The Design Process. Social Planning and Decision-Making Logic”, discusses the concept of rationality. Both in terms of social planning and the logic of decisions, the rationality stands as a general theory of design praxis, an organic set of criteria constantly aimed at an innovative action that should ultimately help us to generate a fruitful relationship between critical consciousness and planning consciousness. Planning thus becomes the alternative to the abstract utopia of ideal models and should take responsibility for transforming what is just virtual into reality. In this way, following a model of reflective conversation with the planning situation, it would become the guiding factor of social life. This type of design, however, should be carried out with the involvement of individuals and their communities. Based on these premises, the present essay seeks to deepen the contents of planning in the transition from forms to absolute rationality to the expressions of dialogical design. Vincenzo Corsi’s chapter is titled “Sociological Analysis and Social Change”. The author discusses the problem of social change that involves society or specific aspects of social life in an ongoing way, affecting culture, economy, politics, and demography. In the context of sociological theories, social change has been described and interpreted using concepts which aim at defining empirically the boundaries of a phenomenon and at measuring the presence and the qualitative and quantitative relevance of such phenomena. The sociologist is requested to analyse the phenomenon, its boundaries, and its dynamics. However, everyday life shows characteristics that are not always easily referred to clear models. Phenomena and the indicators that are used to measure social change are sometimes unclear with regard to their semantic definition and their measurement. In this paper, after a short presentation of the concept of social change in some sociological classical authors, the author discusses the aspects of the phenomenon which can be analysed in the context of fuzzy logic. The contribution “Logic of Social Science and Social Innovation: Between Strategical Planning and New Partnership Welfare Models”, by Stefano Pasotti, aims to analyse some of the paths of change into social programming, evolving towards a new or renewed logic of welfare partnership, exploring consequently the value of relationships in participative approaches between public, non-profit, and private sector, in order to optimize the dynamics of a collaborative multidimensional welfare model, as indeed expected to be and demanded by most recent regulatory accounts of European Community. The final contribution of this book is written by Zdena Rosicka. In her Chapter “Safe Landscape as an Ecological Subsystem”, she deals with reasonable and friendly coexistence of landscape safety and tourism considering cultural, natural, and industrial heritage preservation. She stresses that tourism, if carried out

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landscape-friendly, offers more positives and opportunities for dynamic growth of rural areas. Moreover, she highlights that the Czech Republic follows the ICOMOS documents legislation as well as Czech legislation and directives in force covering an extensive spectrum of monument care and preservation related to protection cultural, natural, and industrial wealth. In summary, the book Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-economic Systems and Social Work collects a broad range of models and theories regarding the socio-economic systems. Because of the wide spectrum of topics that social systems cover, different issues related to mathematics, statistics, teaching, social science, and economics are discussed. Due to the large number of interests of the papers collected in this volume, the latter is addressed, in equal measure, to mathematicians, statisticians, sociologists, philosophers, and more generally to scholars and specialists of different sciences. Galway, Ireland Brno, Czech Republic March 2019

Fabrizio Maturo Šárka Hošková-Mayerová

Contents

Part I

Social Work

Mourning Protocols in Nursing Homes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ana Vallejo Andrada, Evaristo Barrera Algarín and José Luis Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano Social Work System and Social Innovations in Romania. Challenges and Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Daniela-Tatiana Şoitu Violence in Adolescence from a Social Work Perspective: A Qualitative Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rosa María Varela Garay, Rafael Gómez del Toro and Cristian Suárez Relinque Social Work: Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education Policies Review and Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carmen Miguel Vicente, Silvia Patricia Cury, Andrés Arias Astray and José Manuel Fernández Fernández Analysis of the Occupational Health of a Group of Social Workers . . . . Yolanda Borrego-Alés, Octavio Vázquez-Aguado and Alejandro Orgambídez-Ramos Measurement of Disability in Romania. In Search for Comparability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conţiu Tiberiu Şoitu Researching Ageing by the Life Course Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Daniela-Tatiana Şoitu Time Banks Within the Framework of the Collaborative Economy. A Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Macarena Lozano-Oyola and Alberto Sarasola Fernández

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How the Local Welfare System in Italy Changes: From Planning to Co-planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Valentina Savini Mediating the Social: Competences and Actions into Intervention . . . . . 123 Francesca Pia Scardigno Part II

Educations and Teaching Issues

Trends in Health Education Training for Primary Teachers in Spain. Student Proposals for Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Vicente Llorent-Bedmar, Verónica Cobano-Delgado and Mercedes Llorent-Vaquero Learning Environment as Bridge Between School and Community . . . . 151 Fiorella Paone Educational Models of Social Cohesion in Marginal Contexts: The Social Space as an Educational Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Isotta Mac Fadden Project of Education in Oral Health Caregivers and Residents of Centres of Unit Agreed with the Ministry of Equality, Health and Social Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Alfredo Reinoso Santiago The Perception of Teachers on the Quality of Primary School Mathematics Textbooks in Oyo State, Nigeria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Bolanle Oluyemisi Fagbola and Babatunde Oluwaseun Onasanya Training Requirements of the Andalusian Volunteer Program . . . . . . . 193 José Luis Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano, María Pérez Lagares and Laura Pacheco Montero MOOC in Higher Education from the Students’ Perspective. A Sustainable Model? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Eloy López Meneses, Esteban Vázquez Cano and Isotta Mac Fadden Introducing E-learning to a Traditional University: A Case-Study . . . . 225 Donatella Gubiani, Irina Cristea and Tanja Urbančič Problems and Decision-Making Models in the First Cycle of Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 Luciana Delli Rocili and Antonio Maturo Visual Literacy and Teaching in the Education of Mother Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Gamze Çelik

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Formalization of Decision Problems of the Head Teacher . . . . . . . . . . . 273 Antonio Maturo and Renata Santarossa Part III

Recent Trends on Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Social-Economic Systems and Social Work

Pedagogical Helping Relationship in Family Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 Franco Blezza Analysis of the Sociability of Older People in Urban Environments . . . . 305 Evaristo Barrera Algarín, María Josefa Vázquez-Fernández and Alberto Sarasola Fernández Professional Insights on Intercultural Intervention in Diversity Contexts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 Manuela A. Fernández-Borrero, Fernando Relinque-Medina and Susana Martí-García The Study of Cycles of Protest: Approaches to the Case of Spain . . . . . 333 Daniel Gutiérrez-Marín and María Rosa Herrera Gutiérrez Life Stories of Elders and Their Significant Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 Ana Felisbela de Albuquerque Piedade The “LIVE” Time and the Feedback Instantaneity: The Need of a New Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363 Serena Sanseviero Gender Violence and New Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 Ana Vallejo Andrada, Judith Jorge Sanchez and José Luis Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano Myths and Realities in the Employability of Young People Working in the Hotel Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 José Luis Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano and Elena Hornillo Araujo Environment and Latest Trends in Social Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411 Marta Vigo Cancela Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI). European Guidelines and Empirical Applications on the Territory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427 Vanessa Russo Life Cycle of the Crisis Situation Threat and Its Various Models . . . . . 443 Radovan Potůček Evaluation Criteria of Preparedness for Emergency Events Within the Emergency Medical Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463 Irena Tušer and Josef Navrátil

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The Design Process. Social Planning and Decision-Making Logic . . . . . 473 Gabriele Di Francesco Sociological Analysis and Social Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485 Vincenzo Corsi Logic of Social Science and Social Innovation: Between Strategical Planning and New Partnership Welfare Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493 Stefano Pasotti Safe Landscape as an Ecological Subsystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509 Zdena Rosicka

About the Editors

José Luis Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano is Professor in social work with four different degrees: social assistance, social work, educational practice, and philosophy and educational sciences. He is Associative Professor, Director of two masters, Government Counsellor, and Director of the research group PADI-SEJ-452 Research in Social Sciences and Social Politics at the Pablo de Olavide University, Spain, in Social Work and Social Sciences. He is Director of the Seville Social Work College and Author of numerous articles, books, and researches, e.g. “L’expansion de la connaissance en ouvert: Les MOOC”, published by Octaedro. His main research areas are dependence and disability; studies on employability and work; gender; community intervention; social intervention, childhood, and family; family mediation; methodology in social work; migrations and multiculturalism; ethnic minorities; social movements; old people; social policy; professional outings; sectors of population at risk of exclusion; social services; and individual, group, and community social work and volunteering. Fabrizio Maturo obtained his Ph.D. in “economics and statistics” and is Researcher in biostatistics at the National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland. He is qualified to function as an associate professor in statistics in Italy and Romania. He is Chief Editor of the international journal Ratio Mathematica and Co-Editor of the international book Mathematical-Statistical Models and Qualitative Theories for Economic and Social Sciences published by Springer. He is Associate Editor of the Journal of Intelligent and Fuzzy Systems published by IOS Press and of the Journal of Statistics and Management Systems published by Taylor & Francis and participated in the editorial board of many other international journals. His main research interests are biostatistics, DAGs, diversity, functional data analysis, fuzzy logic, multivariate statistics, statistical model for business and management science, item response models, econometrics, and R statistical programming. His past teaching activity regards statistics, mathematics, and computer science.

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About the Editors

Šárka Hošková-Mayerová is Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Defence, Brno, Czech Republic. She is Co-Author of the monograph Quality of Spatial Data in Command and Control System and Co-Editor of four books published in Springer publishing house. She is Author or Co-Author of several chapters of books and papers in valuable journals (e.g. Soft Computing, Computers & Mathematics with Applications; Analele Stiintifice ale Universitatii Ovidius Constanţa-Seria Matematica; and Quality & Quantity). She is Chief Editor of the journal Ratio Mathematica and Associate Editor of the Journal of Intelligent and Fuzzy Systems published by IOS Press. Moreover, she is Member of the editorial board of various journals, e.g. Italian Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics and Advances in Military Technology. Her areas of interest are mathematical modelling, decision-making process, algebraic hyperstructures, and fuzzy structures.

Part I

Social Work

Mourning Protocols in Nursing Homes Ana Vallejo Andrada, Evaristo Barrera Algarín and José Luis Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano

Abstract This research discusses the topic of mourning in the nursing home environment and how the existence or non-existence of a mourning protocol can modify or not the quality of the work in this sector. To demonstrate it we have surveyed 58 nursing home workers of different ages, from different locations and with different specialities. Keywords Mourning · Nursing home · Protocols · Elderly people · Social work · Old people · Grief

1 Introduction In Spain, as well as in the majority of Europe, elderly people are a social group which has been increasing during the last few decades, consequently our society has created new specific resources orientated towards them; an example of this is nursing homes. Nursing homes differ from the family home and affect the elderly person’s life in many aspects, one of these aspects being the mourning process. But what is the mourning process? Mourning is a normal process that everybody must suffer when he or she has lost someone or something, but not everybody suffers this loss in the same way, for this reason, we talk about general mourning characteristics and old people’s mourning characteristics. It is necessary to differentiate between senior citizens who live in their family home or in nursing homes. A. V. Andrada · E. B. Algarín · J. L. S. Sánchez-Serrano (B) Pablo de Olavide University, Seville, Spain e-mail: [email protected] A. V. Andrada e-mail: [email protected] E. B. Algarín e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_1

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Therefore, it is crucial to analyse how we work with the mourning process in nursing homes. There are vital characteristics in each establishment, such as the number of residents, if the establishments are public or private etc. …. During this research we are going to analyse mourning protocols which exist or do not exist in the nursing homes of Spain, and how the existence or non-existence of them could modify the nursing home workers’ perception of the quality of their own work in this sector. Moreover, we are also going to analyse how the particular characteristics of a nursing home could affect the existence or non-existence of a mourning protocol and the worker´s perception of the quality of their intervention in this sector.

2 Mourning and Elderly People A wide range of authors have theorized about the different ways to deal with loss in general and of old people in particular. There are some similarities in their theories especially with regards to the ones related with senior citizens. • Longevity: Senior Citizens, because they have lived a longer time, also have to deal with more losses than a younger person, some related with death and others with a loss of health, social status, autonomy, etc. …. As a result of that they have created personal strategies for dealing with these situations (Pinazo and Sánchez 2005, p. 573). • Social Roles: Some authors among whom, Cohen defined this period of life as the period of losses; loss of our social roles, of grandsons/granddaughters, sons/daughters, wives/husbands, brothers/sisters. Because, when someone close dies, a part of us also dies with them, a part of our identity, a social role (Cohen 2000, p. 39). • Social Support: When the amount of social support decreases, the elderly find it especially difficult when dealing with the number of friends who have died (Olvida and Mendonça 2013, p. 3310). • The cumulative impact of losses: This characteristic includes second and third losses, and it is related to the number of losses the old person suffers during their life. As a consequence of that the elderly live surrounded by death, this makes the person feel lonely and fragile (Pinazo and Sánchez 2005, p. 574). • Suicide: A large amount of research has proved that there is an increase in death, morbidity, suicide, emotional disorders, in grieving people (Martínez 2002, p. 42). In particular, it has been noticed that the risk of depression in widowers in particular increased fourfold in the first year, and nearly half of them present generalized anxiety, panic attacks, etc. …. Alcohol abuse increases and 50% of widowers use some type of psychotropic medication in the first 18 months. Between 10 and 34% of grieving people have a pathologic mourning and the risk of death increases (Martínez 2002, p. 43).

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5

More specifically, suicide in the elderly could be higher than what the statistics reflect. An intentional overdose of medicines, the absence of proper medication, stopping eating, having too much alcohol until the person gets really ill etc. … are the most common ways of dying between old people who have lost their partner, these are other examples of suicide which do not appear in the statistics (Martín 2003, pp. 300–301). • Anticipatory grief: As a consequence of the stage of life in which the senior citizens find themselves and the fact that most of their friends and relations are in a similar situation, they live in constant contact with death and live in a state of anticipatory grief (Martínez 2002, p. 44). Consequently, they see their social relationships and themselves as fragile, as people who can potentially die at any moment, as a consequence of that they live in a state of constant stress and fear about the ones they love and their own death. • The relation with their own death: On account of the moment of life, the individual could associate other deaths with his/her own death, seeing it closer and being an extra element in the mourning process. • The social loss of a close person: In some occasions as a result of chronic diseases which affect the cognitive functions of the patient, who is biologically alive, but not socially, in these instances the family and friends also start a mourning process this process is completely different for the wife or husband (Pacheco 2003, p. 35). • Guilt: One of the most common emotions experienced by elderly people is guilt. This emotion can be a consequence of a wide range of factors: Still being alive when the other person has died, not having enough money to spend on the funeral … etc. …. To conclude, the mourning process is essential in finding the reason of their guilt and try to solve it, on the contrary the elderly will never overcome the loss.

3 Nursing Homes and the Mourning Process Despite the efforts of many nursing homes and the professionals who work in them to make the residents feel as if they were at home, unfortunately in most of the occasions there is a before and an after for the senior citizen. Especially because of changes in routine, the environment, and his/her social group, etc. … which could affect the person’s mood as it has been indicated in some research, in which it was confirmed that 46% of the elderly people who participated in it had depression (Jerez et al. 2016, p. 481). Regarding these changes, the mourning process is not an exception, and there are variations related with it: the nursing home rules, routine and the way the nursing home is managed; and the social relations which are going to modify the normal mourning stages (Table 1). Changes related with the nursing home characteristics:

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Table 1 Normal mourning stages Stage 1: denial and isolation

It is characterized by an automated behaviour and the incapability to accept the reality

Stage 2: anger and confusion

Anger and confusion, depression, anxiety and insomnia are normal in this stage

Stage 3: depression

The person starts to accept the loss and the memories of the loss start to appear in the routine, breaking it because he or she is absent

Stage 4: acceptance

The person starts to overcome the loss and reorganizes their own life without the love one present in it

Gala et al. (2002, p. 1135)

• The nursing home rules: The majority of nursing homes have strict rules, for example rules about going out of the centre, which could cause difficulty if the elderly person can’t do some type of religious ritual related with the mourning process. A Christian example of this, is going to the cemetery (Jones 2009, p. 379). • The centre routines: Most nursing homes have routines for the residents, which also affect the normal mourning stages, as the person cannot break these routine, so the routine disorganization typical of stage 3: Depression, has less impact on the patient. In particular, thanks to leisure activities, as these kind of activities have a positive effect on the person´s behaviour, creating personal satisfaction and optimistic feelings (Heo et al. 2017, p. 293). • Social relationships: When someone has to deal with a loss in a nursing home, he or she does not have the same social support as he or she would do with their own family and close friends. They also have new the social relations that he/she has created in the institution (Martínez 2002, p. 43). However, it is also necessary to consider that on some occasions, the patient is registered in the centre without any or only a few strong social relationships. Moreover, we also have to take into account that in some situations despite old people living in their own homes, they do not have a strong relation with their families and they spend the majority of their time alone. In these cases homes for the elderly are a perfect opportunity to create new social relationships and break this lonely life cycle, which always has a positive effect on the emotional stage of the person (Heo et al. 2017, p. 295). • The type of centre: The type of centre has a major influence on the patients´ lives in general and the mourning process in particular. We have already talked about the importance of leisure activities in the nursing homes, but it is also essential that these activities are attractive enough for the old people to want to take part in them. As it is also essential for motivated professionals to carry out these activities (Table 2).

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Table 2 Possible modifications in the normal mourning stages Stage 1: denial and isolation

In most nursing homes, nurses will give medication to the patients, as a consequence of this the propensity to cry, the lack of sleep etc. … reduce the shock of the loss

Stage 2: anger and confusion

Anxiety and lack of sleep would be reduced thanks to the use of medication

Stage 3: depression

Breaking of the routine would be less, as a consequence of the nursing home routine and rules

Stage 4: acceptance

The person would reorganize their own life without the loved one in less time, because his/her life is already organized following the centre rules

Martínez and Siles (2010, p. 18)

4 Methodology This research is part of an extended investigation about mourning in nursing homes. On this occasion, we have decided to focus on the existence or non-existence of the mourning protocol in the nursing home and how it affects the perception of the professionals about the mourning intervention in their work centre in general and about their own intervention in particular. Having these hypotheses about this specific area of investigation: • The majority of professionals, who work in nursing homes, do not consider that in the nursing homes they work correctly with mourning. • 70% of religious nursing homes have a mourning protocol. • There are more private nursing homes than public ones which have a mourning protocol. • There are more small centres than big ones with a mourning protocol. • There are more workers who consider they do good mourning interventions in the centres which have a mourning protocol than in the ones that do not have it. With the aim to answer these concerns we have used a quantitative technique, the questionnaire was created using a Google Survey and social media was used to distribute and compile information. Despite our first questionnaire having sixteen questions, for this section we have used eleven questions especially related with the protocol´s topic, four of them related with general information and eight with more specific questions which have been answered by 58 Spanish nursing home workers. With ages between 16 years old and 55 years old, the people surveyed ages are divided in four groups: 16–25 years old (25.60%), 26–35 years old (59.60%), 36–45 years old (7%), 46–55 years old (8.88%). In relation with the gender, 80.7% are women and 19.3% are men. They are from different cities of Andalucía and Extremadura (Spain). With relation to the professional role there are Nursing Assistants (24. 60%), Social Workers (21.19%),

8 Table 3 Research factors

A. V. Andrada et al.

Code

Factor

Question

VDPM0001 Age

1

VDPM0002 Sex

2

VDPM0003 Centre location

3

VDPM0004 Centre ownership

4

VDPM0005 Centre character

5

VDPM0006 Number of residents

6

VDPM0007 Professional role

7

VDPM0008 The existence of a mourning protocol in the nursing home

8

VDPM0009 Professional work with mourning

9

VDPM0010 Efficiency of the professional work with mourning

10

VDPM0011 Efficiency of the general work in the nursing home with mourning

11

Source Author Compilation

Nurses (22.8%), Occupational therapists (7%), Physiotherapists (7%), Psychologists (5.3%) and Sociocultural Motivators (5.3%). And the nursing homes where they work are private with public funds (52.6%), private (33.3%) and public (21.11%). With relation to the nursing home character, there are non-religious (68.4%) and religious (31.6%) centres. About the number of residents we have divided them in six groups: Less than 20 residents (3.40%) 21–40 residents (28.10%), 41–60 (21.10%), 61–100 (14%), 101–120 (5.30%) and more than 120 (28.10%). Our research factors are shown in Table 3.

5 Results In this section, we are going to focus on the results of our research and the possible relationships between the factors which could be interesting for our conclusions. • Has the nursing home where you work got a mourning protocol? (VDPM0008) The majority of the workers interviewer, answered that the nursing home where they worked had a mourning protocol (46%), compared with 35% for the ones whose nursing home did not have a mourning protocol (Fig. 1). • Mourning protocol (VDPM 0008) and nursing home character (VDPM0004). With relation to the existence of a mourning protocol and the nursing home character, as we can see in Fig. 2, in the religious centres 56.25% have a mourning protocol

Mourning Protocols in Nursing Homes Fig. 1 Mourning protocol. Source Author Compilation

9

Has the nursing home where you work a mourning protocol? 19% Yes 46%

I do not know

35%

Fig. 2 Mourning protocol and nursing home character. Source Author Compilation

No

60.00% 50.00% It does not have a mourning protocol

40.00% 30.00%

It has a mourning protocol

20.00%

I do not know

10.00% 0.00% Religious

Laic

whereas 37.5% of the centres do not have it. 18.75% of the people surveyed do not know if in the centre where they work has or does not have a mourning protocol. In the non-religious centres we can see that as in the religious ones, the majority of the centres 43.59% have a mourning protocol, and 35.9% of the centres which do not have it. 20.51% of the people surveyed do not know if in the centre where they work has or does not have a mourning protocol. • Mourning protocol (VDPM0008) and number of residents (VDPM0006). As we can see in the Fig. 3, with relation to the number of residents, the nursing homes with less than 20 residents in our sample do not have a mourning protocol with a 100%, being the ones with 61–100 residents the second one with 62.5%. On the other hand we can see that the centres with 21–40 residents are the ones with more mourning protocols with 81. 25% followed by the ones with 41–60 with 50%. • Mourning protocol (VDPM0008) and centre ownership (VDPM0003). Analysing Fig. 4, we can say that in the public centres the existence or non existence of a mourning protocol has the same representation in our samples. Nevertheless, there are more private centres with morning protocol (43.75%) whilst, without

10 Fig. 3 Mourning protocol and the number of residents. Source Author Compilation

Fig. 4 Mourning protocol and centre ownership. Source Author Compilation

A. V. Andrada et al. 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0%

It does not have a mourning protocol It has a mourning protocol I do not know

50.00%

It does not have a mourning protocol

40.00% 30.00% 20.00%

It has a mourning protocol

10.00%

I do not know

0.00% Private

Fig. 5 Mourning personal work. Source Author Compilation

Public

Private with public funds

Do you work the mourning with the residents?

39%

40%

Yes No Maybe

21%

it (37.50%), the private centres with public funds the opposite case is seen, with 40% where there is not a mourning protocol versus 33.33% where there is a mourning protocol. • Do you think you work on mourning with the residents? (VDPM0009). The majority of the people surveyed consider that they maybe work on mourning with the residents, followed by 39% of our sample that consider they work on mourning with the residents and then 21% of our sample that consider they do not work on mourning with the residents (Fig. 5).

Mourning Protocols in Nursing Homes Fig. 6 The existence of a protocol and mourning personal work perception. Source Author Compilation

11

Do you work the mourning with the residents?

49%

49%

Yes No Maybe

2% Fig. 7 The non existence of a protocol and mourning personal work perception. Source Author Compilation

Do you work on mourning with the residents? 6%

36%

Yes No

58%

Maybe

• Do the people surveyed whose nursing home has a mourning protocol consider they work on mourning with the residents? (VDPM0009 and VDPM0008). With relation to how many of the people surveyed whose nursing homes have a mourning protocol consider if they work or do not work on mourning with the residents, we have the same amount of people who answered yes and maybe (49%). See Fig. 6. • Do the people surveyed whose nursing home has not got a mourning protocol consider they work on mourning with the residents? (VDPM0009 and VDPM0008). With relation to how many people surveyed whose nursing home has not got a mourning protocol consider if they work or do not work on mourning with the residents, we can see that most of our sample do not consider they work on mourning with the residents (58%), and 36% are the ones who consider they work on mourning with them (Fig. 7). These results show considerable difference compared with the previous ones related to the workers whose nursing home has a mourning protocol. • How well do you consider you work on mourning with the residents? (VDPM00010)

12 Fig. 8 How well do you consider you work on mourning with the residents? Source Author Compilation

A. V. Andrada et al.

How do you consider you work on mourning with the residents? 5 4 3 2 1 0.00%

Fig. 9 The existence of a protocol and how do you consider you work on mourning with the residents? Source Author Compilation

10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00%

How do you consider you work on mourning with the residents? 5 4 3 2 1 0.00%

20.00%

40.00%

60.00%

80.00%

As we can see in Fig. 8 the 48.2% of the people surveyed qualified their mourning work with a 3/5, being 2/5 the second mark with a 17.90% and 4/5 with a 16.10%, follow by 1/5 with a 12.50% and 5/5 with a 5.4%. • The people surveyed whose nursing home has mourning protocol, how do they think they work on mourning with the residents? (VDPM0008 and VDPM0010). The majority of people surveyed whose nursing home has a mourning protocol qualify their intervention in this file with a 3/5 being 61.54% of our sample, followed by the ones who qualify their intervention with a 4/5 who are 15.39%, as we can see in Fig. 12 they marks 2/5 and 5/5 have the same representation being 7.69% of the surveyed, leaving 1/5 in the last position with 3.85% (Fig. 9). • Do the people surveyed whose nursing home has not got a mourning protocol think they work on mourning with the residents? (VDPM0008 and VDPM0010). As we can see in Fig. 10, the results of how the workers think they work on mourning with the residents, changes depending on if their nursing home has or doesn´t have a mourning protocol. Whereas in the previous graph the majority of the people surveyed qualified their intervention with a 3/5, in this case the majority of the surveyed has qualified it with a 2/5 being 38.89% of the sample, being the ones who have choose 3/5 as their assessment just 16.66% of our sample.

Mourning Protocols in Nursing Homes Fig. 10 The non existence of a protocol and how do you consider you work on mourning with the residents. Source Author Compilation

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How do you consider you work on mourning with the residents? 5 4 3 2 1 0.00%

Fig. 11 How do you consider is the work on mourning in your centre? Source Author Compilation

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

How do you consider is the work on mourning in your centre? 5 4 3 2 1 0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

The same happens with the number of people surveyed who chose a 1/5 as the assessment of their mourning work, whereas in the first graph they are 3.85% of the sample in this graph they represent 27.78% of the population of our research. Leaving 4/5 and 5/5 as the less chosen options with 11.11 and 5.55% of our research population. • Being 1 less than 5, how effective do you consider the work on mourning is in your centre? (VDPM0011). With relation to the effectiveness of mourning work in their centres, the majority of the workers chose the result of 3/5 (45.60%), follow by 2/5 (21.10%), which has a similar result as 4/5 (15.80%), leaving 1/5 (12.30%) and 5/5 (5.30%) in the last positions (Fig. 11). • The people surveyed whose nursing home has a mourning protocol being graded from 1 to 5 how do they consider they work on mourning with the residents in their centre? (VDPM0008 and VDPM0011). The majority of the people surveyed whose nursing home has a mourning protocol has qualified their intervention with a 3/5 (50.00%), follow by the ones who chose 4/5 (26.92%) and 5/5 (11. 54%). Leaving 1/1 and 1/ 2 in the last position (3.85%) (Fig. 12).

14 Fig. 12 The existence of a mourning protocol and how you consider is the work with the mourning in your centre. Source Author Compilation

A. V. Andrada et al.

How do you consider is the work on mourning in your centre? 5 4 3 2 1 0.00%

Fig. 13 The non existence of a mourning protocol and how you consider is the work on mourning in your centre. Source Author Compilation

10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00%

How do you consider is the work on mourning in your centre? 5 4 3 2 1 0.00%

10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00%

• The people surveyed whose nursing home has not got a mourning protocol being graded from 1 to 5 how they consider they work on mourning with the residents in their centre? (VDPM0008 and VDPM0011). As we can see in Fig. 13 again there are differences between the workers whose nursing home have and have not a mourning protocol. As in the first graph the most popular was the 3/5 in the second one is 2/5 (55.55%), followed by 1/2 and 2/1 which despite observing in the first graph has the less representation, in the second one are the 22.22% of the sample each one. Having 4/5 and 5/5 no representation for these workers.

6 Discussion After a deep analysis of the results and the theory, we can find some similarities between some author’s theories and our results. A possible example of this is the relationship between the religious character of the centre and the prevalence of the existence of a mourning protocol versus the non existence of it. The prevalence of it being 56.25% as we can see in the Fig. 2. And the theory of James about nursing home rules and how they affect the religious rituals related with the mourning process, being a possible explanation of why the

Mourning Protocols in Nursing Homes

15

religious centres have a higher percentage than the non-religious ones in the existence of a mourning protocol. The religious centres have religious rituals related with the mourning normally and also have directly or indirectly a mourning protocol as the religious rituals is by itself a protocol. Another correlation between the theory and the results is the lower evaluation with which the workers whose nursing home has not got a mourning protocol evaluated their intervention in general and the centre intervention in this process in particular. In contrast with the ones whose centres have this type of protocol and the graph of possible modifications in the normal mourning stages of Martínez and Siles, which give us the amount of possible changes with which the workers whose nursing home do not have a mourning protocol could be not familiar with. As a consequence of this non-familiarization it makes their work less effective with this phenomenon in this specific environment. An interesting results and case studies can be found in e.g. Maturo et al. (2016), Flaut et al. (2018) or Hoskova-Mayerova et al. (2017). A different approach to health education is presented e.g. in Svarcova et al. (2016).

7 Conclusion In conclusion, we can say that some of our hypotheses are confirmed but others are not. On some occasions this confirmation is not even clear. With regards to our first one: the majority of professionals, who work in nursing homes, do not consider that they work correctly on mourning in the nursing homes. We can say that the answer is not clear because despite the majority of people being surveyed having evaluated their work with a 3/5 the second most popular score is 2/3. Regarding the second one: 70% of religious nursing homes have a mourning protocol, this is not confirmed because despite there being a wide range of religious nursing homes with a mourning protocol, it does not represent the 70% of the sample. However, we can confirm the third hypotheses: There are more private nursing homes than public ones which have a mourning protocol. As for the fourth: There are more small centres than big ones with a mourning protocol. And in the final one: There are more workers who consider they do good mourning interventions in the centres which have a mourning protocol than in the ones that do not have it. Which definitely proves with the amounts of differences between the workers whose nursing home has and does not have a mourning protocol answers without doubt the importance of a protocol in these area of nursing homes. This doesn’t just improve the worker perception of their own work and the centre work in the mourning area, but it also improves the quality of life of the elderly people who live in them.

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References Cohen, M.: Bereavement groups with elderly. J. Psychother. Indep. Pract. 1(2), 33–41 (2000) Flaut, C., Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Flaut, D.: Models and Theories in Social Systems, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol. 179. Springer International Publishing, 576 p. (2018). https:// doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00084-4 Gala, F., Lupiani, M., Raja, R., Guillen, C., González, J., Villaverde, M and Alba, I.: Psychologycal attitudes toward death and bereavement. One conceptual review. Cuadernos de Medicina Forense 611(30), 39–50 (2002) Heo, J., Chun, S., Kim, B., Ryu, J., Lee, Y.: Leisure activities, optimism, and personal growth among the young-old, old-old, and oldest-old. Educ. Gerontol. 43(6), 289–299 (2017) Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Maturo, F., Kacprzyk, J. (eds.): Mathematical-Statistical Models and Qualitative Theories for Economic and Social Sciences, Studies in Systems. Decision and Control, vol. 104. Springer, Berlin, 442 p. (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54819-7 Jerez, J., Priscilla, N., Fagundes, B., Farias, M., Grazielly, M., Macedo, L., Louise, F., Bezerra, D., Costa, K.: Depressive symtoms and associated factors in institutionalized elderly. Exp. Aging Res. 42(5), 479–491 (2016) Jones, J.: Mourning, melancholia and religious studies: is the “lost object” really lost? Pastoral Psychol. 59(10), 379–389 (2009) Martín, M.: Trabajo Social en Gerontología. SINTESIS, Madrid (2003) Martínez, E.: Vivencias y escenarios de duelo en las personas mayores en la Almería del SXXI. Universidad de Almería, Almería (2002) Martínez, E., Siles, T.: El duelo en una residencia de mayores versus en el entorno familiar. Gerokomos 21(2), 62–65 (2010) Maturo, A., Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Soitu, D. T., Kacprzyk, J., (eds): Recent trends in social systems: quantitative theories and quantitative models. Studies in System, Decision and Control, vol. 66. Springer International Publishing AG, 426 p. (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/9783-319-40585-8 Olvida, T., Mendonça, R.: Significados do vivido pela pessoa idosa longeva no proceso de norte/morrer e luto. Ciência & Salúede Coletiva 19(8), 3310–3314 (2013) Pacheco, G. (2003). Perspectiva antropológica y psicosocial del duelo. Cultura de los cuidados. Available online at http://www.index-f.com/cultura/14revista/14_articulo_27-43.php Pinazo, S., Sánchez, M.: Gerontología: Actuación, Innovación y Propuestas. Pearson Education, España (2005) Svarcova, I., Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Navratil, J.: Crisis management and education in health. In: The European proceedings of social & behavioural sciences, EpSBS, vol. XVI, pp. 255–261 (2016). https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2016.11.26

Social Work System and Social Innovations in Romania. Challenges and Opportunities Daniela-Tatiana Soitu ¸

Abstract The social work arena has become emergent in Romania during the last few decades, as it has been in all former European communist countries. New legislation, new quality standards for social services have been developed, but the social phenomenon still faces the challenge of a timely adaptation of social policies and practices. Is there a common ground for social innovations in Romania? What are the main factors and mechanisms involved in promoting, developing or in delaying innovative answers to an integrative approach of the clients’ needs? After desk research, interviews with social and health care providers of social services to the elderly are offering qualitative data for our study. A critical analysis is underpinning our chapter, underlining the challenges and opportunities for social innovations. The conclusions point to a suitable use of resources, including human resources—experienced professionals, but also users/clients. Further research will add new insights and data to sustain social policy proposals on this matter. Keywords Social innovations · Empowerment · Social work · Experienced user/peer worker · Elderly · Integrative approach

1 Introduction. The Legal View of Integrated Approach The development of social work has to be related to new trends such as involving service receivers regarding both the education and the design and performance of social work services. In recent years, there has been a trend of user involvement in many countries, which also has been carried out through use of Peer Workers in services at different levels and areas. This trend places new demands on the social worker’s role and on understanding and attitudes towards those who receive services (Soitu ¸ and Johansen 2017). D.-T. Soitu ¸ (B) Department of Sociology and Social Work, Faculty of Philosophy and Social-Political Sciences, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Ia¸si, Carol I Bvd, 11, 700506 Ia¸si, Romania e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_2

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Three of the values and principles of the Romanian social work system (Romanian Parliament Law 292/2011) are participation, complementarity and the integrated approach. According to them, to ensure the full potential of social functioning of an individual as a full member of a family, community and society, social services must be correlated with all the needs of the user and provided in integration with a wide range of benefits and services in the economic, educational, health, cultural domain etc. (art. 5, letter p.). Social services, together with welfare benefits are the main components of the social work system in Romania. Their aim is to develop individual, group or collective abilities in order to meet social needs, increase the quality of life and promote the principles of social cohesion and inclusion (art. 2, 3). In order to carry out coherent, unitary and effective social actions for the benefit of the individual, social services can be organized and provided at the same time with employment, health, and education services, as well as together with other social serviced of general interest, on a case-by-case basis. (art. 28). Having a proactive character, social services involve an integrated approach of an individual’s needs, in relation to the individual’s socio-economic circumstances, health status, level of education and social living environment (art. 28, para. 11). These legal provisions, together with the minimum quality standards for social services (OUG 68 and following modifications), with the quality standards regarding care at home, in temporary, permanent or day centres, have brought about a qualitative progress in the domain in Romania. The internal dynamics of the social work domain, as well as everyday experience and external influences, have resulted in frequent changes in legislation: Romania now has a third law regarding the national social work system (Romanian Parliament Law 292/2011) in 12 years (the first was passed in 2001, the second in 2006). In a positive interpretation, we could say that such modifications show willingness for change, for adaptation. Such an interpretation is valid for the openings of the integrated approach, but it comes together with a strong process of decentralisation. For example, the public providers of social services, recognised by the law, apart from “the specialised structures within/subordinated to the local administration authorities and the executive authorities in the territorial units, organised in townships, cities and the districts of Bucharest, by the central public authorities or other institutions subordinated to them or coordinated by them, whose task is, according to the law, to provide social services for certain categories of users” (art. 37 letters a, b), are also “healthcare units, education institutions and other public institutions that provide, at community level, integrate social services.” (art. 37 letter c). On the other hand, an integrated approach requires multidisciplinary teams and competences, harmonised together with and for the benefit of the individual, group, community at risk or with social needs (Soitu ¸ et al. 2013, pp. 123–133; Soitu ¸ and Soitu ¸ 2013a; Soitu ¸ 2014a). At individual level, for dependent persons—be they seniors, people with disabilities or with chronic diseases—“personal care services can be organised and provided together with other services, such as: (a) medical care services; (b) refurbishment and environment adaptation services: small works, repairs and similar; (c) other

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recovery/recuperation services: kinesiotherapy, physiotherapy, medical gymnastics, occupational therapy, psychotherapy, psycho-pedagogy, speech therapy, podiatry and similar”, and they may be “accompanied by services of social and legal counselling, and information.” (art. 33, Soitu ¸ 2014b). The integrative perspective can be found both in policies and principles, but also in practical actions and measures. An entire section of Law 292/2011 (section 1), part of chapter four (Integrate measures of social assistance) deals with one of the main concerns of social work for the first time since legislation in the domain has been passed: “preventing and combating poverty and the risk of social exclusion”. Generally speaking, “the measures for preventing and combating poverty and the risk of social exclusion are part of the general framework of multidimensional actions of the process of social inclusion that provides the required opportunities and resources for the full participation of vulnerable individuals in the economic, social and cultural life of society, as well as in the process of making decisions concerning their own lives and their access to fundamental rights.” (art. 53). Integrative measures are provided by law for three other categories of users: the victims of human trafficking, individuals currently undergoing a prison sentence, and the victims of domestic violence. The victims of human trafficking receive social services free of charge, provided in integration with other protective measures stipulated by special legislation, with the aim of facilitating reintegration and especially social reinsertion (art. 62). Those undergoing a prison sentence, being in the custody of the penitentiary system, receive, free of charge, social services that aim to ensure their social reintegration—educational, social and psychological counselling— “provided in the detention facilities, in an integrated system, together with the educational, psychological, social work, school and professional training activities taking place in such facilities” (art. 64). For the victims of domestic violence, “social services are provided in integration with the other measures of legal protection, of healthcare, of preventing, identifying and sanctioning domestic violence acts included in the specific legislation in the domain.” (art. 75). The integrated measures reflect, therefore, principles such as: respect for human dignity, subsidiarity, individual approach, participation of the user. This last principle has a particular meaning: as expected, is underlines the involvement of the user in his/her own plan of services, but it also implies a transfer of responsibility: “the users take part in formulating and implementing the policies that have direct impact on them, in realising personalised social support programmes, and are actively involved in community life, in association or directly, through volunteer activities carried out for the benefit of vulnerable individuals” (art. 5, lit. g). The set-up of an integrated computer system was planned for 2014–2015 (art. 17), with the aim of ensuring the verification of the data given by applicants for social assistance/welfare or for social services. Such a system would have eased the burden of the social workers employed by the offices of the local public administration, freeing up their time for providing social services such as counselling, information provision and support to the potential users (Soitu ¸ 2013b). The responsibility for a dignified and autonomous life “in terms of developing one’s own abilities of social integration and becoming actively involved in solving

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difficult situations belongs to each individual, as well as to the individual’s family; the state authorities intervene by creating equal opportunities and, subsidiarily, by providing welfare benefits and adequate social services”. (L292, art. 3). In this context, we are wondering: to what extent do state authorities create equal opportunities and provides welfare benefits and adequate social services? What do the specialists think? What do the users themselves think about that? Which are the challenges and opportunities for social innovations in Romanian social work system?

2 Methodology and Circumstances As a concept, innovation is as “a creative process where innovators must use their experiences, theoretical, logical skills and abilities to see things form new perspectives and then they must have willingness to find and try new concepts.” (Soitu ¸ and Johansen 2017, p. 8). Social innovation emerge from sociological and economic theories towards a strategic management of innovation (Sundbo 2001), by strategic reflexivity (Fuglsang and Sundbo 2003), based on collaborative economy and actions towards an interactive governance (Torfing 2012) and integrative policy and public innovation (Ansell and Torfing 2014; Torfing and Triantafillou 2016). Innovation on social welfare, human service (Soitu ¸ and Soitu ¸ 2011; Rønning and Knutagard 2014) and on participatory governance multiply the areas of interest (Rønning et al. 2014; Soitu ¸ and Johansen 2017, p. 6; Urban and Hoskova-Mayerova 2017). The study is based on a com-mon experience of professors, students and practitioners from Romania and Norway in developing cooperation in education and practice on caring of elderly and disabled persons (CompEd Project, 2017). Looking for the innovations on social and health care process, we have analyzed the challenges and opportunities for innovations in social welfare systems. Involving former beneficiaries as peer workers is one of these possibilities (Lupu and Soitu ¸ 2017, p. 68; Soitu ¸ 2017, p.143 ). Out of the interviews we carried out with specialists, volunteers and users—seniors, people with disabilities and their next of kin—we found several issues regarding activities and opportunities they remarked in terms of practices and policies (Phills et al. 2008; Vallejo et al. 2017). Previous writings (Soitu ¸ and Johansen 2017, p. 8; Lupu and Soitu ¸ 2017, p. 68; Soitu ¸ and Asiminei 2017, pp. 57–66) have explored the data reflecting opportunities for educational cooperation and innovation, opinions of service providers and users reflecting best using of resources, including personal experiences (Soitu ¸ 2013b). In this chapter we have the best place for a holistic view using data from previous researches, but also a new critical analysis of legislation and meeting results, as intercultural (Romanian–Norwegian) interactions.

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3 Critical Analyse of Legal and Real Challenges and Opportunities for Social Innovation As concerns Romania, optimal conditions for an integrated provision of social services are not yet met. On the one hand, the administrative and strategic responsibility pertains to separate ministries, on the other hand there are no yet fiscal provisions that would allow the realisation of an integrated plan of services. For one of the categories mentioned above—dependent individuals, seniors, people with chronic illnesses or disabilities—part of the services are provided by the healthcare system, another part by the social assistance system, but mainly in the shape of welfare benefits (Soitu ¸ 2014b). There are a multitude of actions for which a better legislative and institutional coordination is required (Soitu ¸ and Soitu ¸ 2013a). One example in this respect has been developed in Norway. Recent changes in legislation (The Health and Care Service Act 2012; The Patient Right Act 2012; The Health Care Workers Act 2012; Care Coordination reform 2012) have allowed the organisation by local authorities of integrated services, depending on the number of individuals in a region—categorised statistically according to age, education level, social needs etc.—on the required funding according to the demographical and geographical representation. The responsibility is divided at national, regional and local level, the emphasis being on the responsibility of the system and only then of the individual (Johansen 2017; Stein 2017). In the domain of health, the city manages preventive activities, funding, based on contracts, medical institutions. Emergency interventions are provided at regional level, while recovery and reintegration procedures are provided mostly at community level. Here we find similarities between the two countries: the decentralisation of medical services and the management of units/hospitals by county and local councils. The difference—an important one—consists in the existence of another entity that manages the funds coming from the health insurance budget, respectively the reimbursement for the services. In Romania, hospitals and outpatient centres are supported financially by the local authorities, but the payments—the reimbursement for the services—are made by the deconcentrated institution of the national health insurer. It is not the money that follows the patient, but the services instead (Soitu ¸ et al. 2013). What does care coordination involve? An integrated option of providing services to the patient/user by a structure belonging to the county councils/to local-regional authorities: The Commission of care providers. Care coordination involves bringing together a multidisciplinary team—nurse, medical aide, social educator (who aids in the identification of personal resources), social worker (who works mainly with people with disabilities, with substance dependences, and in child protection). The Home Care Department decides and coordinates intervention in the family, in an integrated manner; thus, the family is not forced to look for complementary services. The main difference in the referral of users derives from their status and from the “source of problems”: in Romania, the same person may be a patient when using

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health services but may also be in a state of deprivation and not request support to alleviate it, may be left only with pharmaceutical treatment and not have a good quality of life. As one of the interviewees put it, “You look for help in the system, but you can only find it outside, in informal support (free of charge, provided by family members, friends, neighbours)”. In the Romanian legislation (L292/2011) the personalised assistance and care plan is defined as “the document developed by a multidisciplinary team, with the participation of the user/of the user’s legal representative, detailing the services provided to the user”. Such a plan is made for the categories mentioned above. However, important steps forward have been made by experienced organisations of the civil society and by the new “communitarian nurse” (Romanian Government EO 18/2017). In Norway, as a stakeholder states: there exists a change in paradigm in working with the user/patient: instead of compensatory services (How can I help you in the situation you’re in?) motivational services are developed, effectively engaging the user and stimulating the assumption of individual responsibility: (What is most important to you?/What matters to you most?) (Stein 2017). At the same time, the “normalisation of social roles” is rethought: the individual is stimulated to take part in fulfilling his/her social needs, and so is the community. An effectiveness analysis (objective vs. outcome) and of efficiency (cost vs. benefit) is closely linked to this integrative and coordinated approach. If the main needs of an individual are socialisation needs, then hosting them in a residential centre based on distance and age considerations is not justified; instead, the individual is invited to find a community where they can live and interact with others; sometimes this is the community of origin. An increasingly present actor in multidisciplinary teams is the Peer support worker (“experienced user”, “experience consultant”): the equal who has been through the same experiences, has overcome them, and now is supporting the social reintegration and the recovery of people who face similar circumstances (Soitu ¸ and Johansen 2017).

4 Conclusions Opportunities to innovate in this type of support in the care and health systems for the elderly, for people with disabilities or with chronic diseases exist in both countries. A magical triangle that could influence this innovation has as its three points an individual from the academic environment, a service user and a service provider (Svarcova et al. 2016). There are challenges that remain, questions that future research will have to answer: what has allowed the emergence of these coordinated reforms in education, health and care in Norway? The Norwegians themselves call it the “empowering revolution”. Was it civic consciousness, the type of social policy, the living standards? What social integrative model will Romania develop? There are many elements of integrative policies in the laws, but which will be integrative actions to respond to multiple needs of beneficiaries? How will the integrated interventions teams been

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organised and how will they be funded? Further research and actions will help us to conclude whether the Norwegian model of Care coordination is the best way to follow for Romania as well. This chapter is unique through the critical research and analysis of two social care systems in different societies with different legislation, providers and beneficiaries. Lessons learned can support new policy and actions proposals. Later research will have to fill in the details regarding the effectiveness and efficiency of such policies, as well as to their ability of becoming models. Acknowledgements The current study was funded through the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area (EEA) under the Memorandum of Understanding between the Romanian Government and the governments of Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, Small size bilateral cooperation projects EEA EN 015 no. 11/09.02.2016, the CompED project: “Comparing Collaboration in Education and Practice in the Health and Welfare Field”. Project promoter: “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Ia¸si. Partner: Norwegian University Science and Technology.

References Ansell, C., Torfing, J. (2014) (eds.): Public Innovation Through Collaboration and Design. Routledge (2014) Fuglsang, L., Sundbo, J. (eds.): Innovation as Strategic Reflexivity. Taylor and Francis, UK (2003) Johansen, K.J.: Comparing the use of peer workers in different countries. Scient. Ann. Alexandru Ioan Cuza Univ. Iasi. Sociol. Soc. Work Sect. X(1), 44–56 (2017) Lupu, A., Soitu, ¸ D.: Resource allocation, personal and practical experiences of providers and beneficiaries of social and health care services for elderly and disabled persons. A qualitative analysis. Scient. Ann. Alexandru Ioan Cuza Univ. Iasi. Sociol. Soc. Work Sect. X(1) (2017) Norwegian Parliament: The Health and Care Service Act; The Patient Right Act; The Health Care Workers Act; Care Coordination reform (2012): Phills Jr, J.A., Deiglmeier, K., Miller, D.T.: Rediscovering social innovation, stanford social innovation review. Fall, 36–43 (2008) Romanian Government: Emergency Order nr 18/2017 on Communitarian Nurse (2017) Romanian Parliament: Law 192 regarding Social Work System in Romania (2011) Rønning, R., et al.: Framing Innovation in Public Service Sectors. Routledge (2014) Rønning, R., Knutagard, M.: Innovation in Social Welfare and Human Services. Routledge (2014) Soitu, ¸ C.-T., Soitu ¸ D.: Romania in vol. Child Protection and Child Welfare. In: Welbourne, P., Dixon, J. (eds.) A Global Appraisal of Cultures, Policy and Practice. Jesica Kingsley Publishers, London and Phipadeplphia (2013a) Soitu, ¸ D.: Social investment: beyond vulnerability through empowerment. J. Soc. Econ. Revista de Econ. Soc. III(4), 21–39 (2013) Soitu, ¸ C.-T.: Incidence of disability in Romania. The paradox of small numbers. Revista de Asisten¸ta˘ Social˘a (J. Soc. Work) (2/2014) (2014a) Soitu, ¸ D.: Being healthy means being educated and acting accordingly. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 142, 557–563 (2014b) Soitu, ¸ D.: Book Review: research methods in service innovation. Sørensen, F., Lapenta, F. (eds.) Edward Elgar Publishing, UK. Scient. Ann. Alexandru Ioan Cuza Univ. Iasi. Sociol. Soc. Work Sect. X(1), 143–145 (2017) Soitu, ¸ C., Asiminei, R.: Professionalisation of un occupation: peer worker. Scient. Ann. Alexandru Ioan Cuza Univ. Iasi. Sociol. Soc. Work Sect. X(1), 57–66 (2017)

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Soitu, D., Johansen, K.J.: The space of innovation and practice on welfare, health and social care education and practice in Romania and Norway. Scient. Ann. Alexandru Ioan Cuza Univ. Iasi. Sociol. Soc. Work Sect. X(1), 5–17 (2017) Soitu, ¸ D., Soitu, ¸ C.: Social actions of civil society. Scient. Ann. Alexandru Ioan Cuza Univ. Iasi (New Ser.) Sociol. Soc. Work IV(1), 107–122 (2011) Soitu, ¸ D., et al.: Social and medical public policies, between “Vulnerabilities” and “Risks”. Revista Român˘a de Bioetic˘a 11(1), 123–133 (2013) Stein, K.M.: Norway–a welfare state: the Nordic way. Scient. Ann. Alexandru Ioan Cuza Univ. Iasi. Sociol. Soc. Work Sect. X(1), 18–43 (2017) Sundbo, J.: The Strategic Management of Innovation: A Sociological and Economic Theory. Edward Elgar Publishing, UK (2001) Svarcova, I., et al.: Crisis management and education in health. Eur. Proc. Soc. Behav. Sci. EpSBS XVI, 255–261 (2016). https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2016.11.26 Torfing, J.: Interactive Governance: Advancing the Paradigm. OUP Oxford (2012) Torfing, J., Triantafillou, T. (eds.): Enhancing Public Innovation by Transforming Public Governance. Cambridge University Press (2016) Urban, R., Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Threat life cycle and its dynamics. Deturope 9(2), 93–109 (2017) Vallejo, A., et al.: Risks associated with reality: how society views the current wave of migration; one common problem—two different solutions. In: Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol. 104, pp. 283–305. Springer International Publishing (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3319-54819-7_19

Violence in Adolescence from a Social Work Perspective: A Qualitative Study Rosa María Varela Garay, Rafael Gómez del Toro and Cristian Suárez Relinque

Abstract In this study, the role played by social workers in the field of violence in adolescence is analysed from the perspective of a group of people professionally and academically linked to Social Work. To such end, a qualitative study has been carried out following the Grounded Theory (Strauss and Corbin 1998) method. The results indicate that, according to the participants, the performance of social workers is excessively limited in the field of violence in adolescence and shows deficiencies in academic training at a theoretical and practical level. The interviewees demand greater participation of social workers in interdisciplinary teams, and claim direct intervention with adolescents and review current curricula. Keywords Social work · Violence · Adolescence · Education · Research

1 Introduction The realisation of this study is justified by the need for information detected in the existing research regarding the role played by certain professionals in the field of violence in adolescence. In other words, interesting work can be found in previous literature which, from a mainly quantitative orientation, empirical evidence is sought to explain the factors related to the development and adjustment of adolescents, and more specifically, to violent behaviour in this vital stage (Calvete et al. 2014; Del Moral Arroyo et al. 2013; Estévez et al. 2013; Martínez et al. 2010; Moreno et al. 2012; Musitu et al. 2007). These studies provide relevant information and represent an essential theoretical precedent for this and other works. However, it should be R. M. Varela Garay (B) · R. Gómez del Toro · C. Suárez Relinque Pablo de Olavide University, Seville, Spain e-mail: [email protected] R. Gómez del Toro e-mail: [email protected] C. Suárez Relinque e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_3

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noted that most of these works focus on the vision of the adolescents themselves, without offering the point of view of those who work both in identifying the causes of this problem and in its possible solutions (Suárez et al. 2014). Being even more specific about the information that may or may not be found in previous works, as far as the literature has been reviewed, there are no studies analysing the role played by social workers in the field of adolescent violence from actual perspective of professionals. However, despite the deficiencies detected, it is important to remember that, possibly, the most important value of the previous research lies in offering a theoretical framework of reference to design new research that deepens in the knowledge of social problems starting from existing information but from a different approach. Therefore, with the idea of providing new and useful information and considering the information deficits observed, this study aims at analysing the role played by social workers in the field of adolescent violence from the perspective of Social Work professionals and students.

2 Theory 2.1 Social Work in Adolescence: Areas and Contexts of Work Adolescence is a period of evolutionary transition in which multiple changes occur in the physical, psychological and social environment, which poses a challenge for both adolescents and their context. Social Work studies that analyse aspects of this life stage are usually related to family intervention or social work with childhood. In this chapter we will consider the role of Social Work in the field of adolescence, and the role of violence during adolescence (Gómez del Toro 2015).

2.2 Social Work and Adolescence The relationship between Social Work and the intervention with adolescents originates in the works of Mary Richmond, specifically in her work Social Diagnosis, published in 1917, where she proclaimed individual follow-up as an evaluation of the possibilities of transitory departures and labour insertions for young people or adolescents returning from institutions, reporting to the justice department through specific interviews and follow-up reports. However, this relationship has not been maintained in the trajectory of this discipline. On the contrary, both the volume of research and the theoretical contribution on this subject has been traditionally scarce despite the numerous and relevant implications that Social Work has both in the field of professional intervention and at the macro-social level (Richmond 1995; HoskovaMayerova and Maturo 2016).

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On the other hand, it is important to point out that in order to analyse and intervene in a field such as adolescence from a Social Work perspective, it is necessary to adopt integrative and pluralistic theoretical perspectives that allow observing the multiple influences at the various levels of micro and macro analysis. In this sense, from the ecological perspective, the interaction between social systems in which the subject participates directly or indirectly is emphasised, the detection of resources and strengths existing in each of them and in the interactions, themselves, without ignoring individual variables such as, for example, the capacity for self-care, selfdirection, self-efficacy, self-control and self-esteem (Bronfenbrenner 1990; HoskovaMayerova 2014). In other words, one of the objectives of Social Work with adolescence (and family) should be to identify the resources and potential available to clients or users at different levels to help enhance, replace or complement the use of such resources. This way, the response to many socio-family problems should not necessarily require highly-specialised technical interventions by professionals, but may involve collaborations and negotiations among professionals, families, adolescents and their support systems (Villalba 2004). Currently, ecological perspectives reinforce the role of Social Workers as collaborators, trainers, teachers or mediators, mainly with facilitation, orientation and organisation roles (Payne 1995: 189–190). Bronfenbrenner (1990) argues that an effective functioning of the process of raising children both in the family and in other environments requires establishing constant patterns of information exchange, reciprocal communication between environments, accommodation and mutual trust in the main environment in which children and their parents develop their lives. In contemporary societies these environments are homes, child care programmes, schools and workplaces of the parents. This approach is for those who claim an alliance of an ecological vision of reality and share a common perception of research and the limitations of overspecialisation (Musitu and Cava 2001). Finally, it should be noted that, according to Villalba (2004), the four approaches that integrate Social Work with adolescence from the ecological perspective are: social support and social networks, self-help, risk factors-protection and resilience.

2.3 Social Welfare, Education and Social Work The school context is an essential environment of the micro-social level in which adolescents develop their life. Therefore, it is important to review and consider the role played by Social Work in this area. To do so, we need to analyse the Social Welfare and Education systems in place in Western countries, which include a set of measures and guarantees for childhood and families, and the role played by Social Work in developing these systems. Nowadays, societies are increasingly exclusive. Every day and at a frenetic pace there are new and constant exclusions for various reasons: economic, ethnic, cultural, gender, etc. The current crisis process only accentuates this tendency, making

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people who until recently were perfectly integrated at a social level, enter situations of marginalisation after losing their jobs, homes, divorces, etc. It is important to take into account at schools that, due to globalisation processes, which have caused the mobility of people and generated waves of immigration, there is an increasingly diverse type of student as regards race, language, culture and religion, which contributes to pluralise and enrich educational spaces (Mira et al. 2003). But it also happens that the tension caused in adaptation and socialisation processes is added to the structural violence that has recently been outlined, leading to situations of violence and victimisation that are revealed in the classrooms among the peer group. This social drift demands the urgent need for a true and deeply inclusive education that can counterbalance this trend for adolescents and minors in general, and that can generate conflict resolution in a peaceful manner. The connection between Welfare Systems, Social Work and Social Services (both specialised and community) has a relevant role in attacking social exclusion. At the vertex of this connection are the Social Work professionals who perform their work directly serving families and children in need, because, as pointed out by Veiga (2007), there is a clear relationship between the different types of violence, in such a way that the problems of violence that appear in formal education must be addressed together with the other welfare systems that act on families and the community. Traditionally, Social Work has been considered a profession that is related with attention or care of people, projecting an image of the expected professional qualities and skills, similar to those attributed to women when they care for and protect the family. It is a metaphorical projection of the sexual division of work in the family and the care provided by the State. On the other hand, formal education in our western societies operates from a legal perspective in a double sense: on the one hand, it is a right that adolescent boys and girls have, and on the other, it is an obligation that parents have. Both senses are included in our country’s legislation. This legal framework is a mandatory reference for the family and for educators, as not only does it define the compulsory nature of assistance, it also recognises the right to diversity, the rights for students with special educational needs or free education, among other. The school is the institution that must ensure compliance with this right, and at the same time, it is the place where said right is materialised. The school is not the only one. Within the family we learn in a different way, but it covers aspects of the same constitutional exercise. If it is added that, coinciding with Vygotsky (1995, 1999), the development of human beings can only be explained in terms of social interaction, which internalises the language of the human group in which they are born and raised, allowing to acquire the cultural products of said group, then the spaces or scenarios multiply. Other pedagogues, such as Freire (1992), also include the word and the other, that is, all the people who interact with the I, with oneself, while Montessori (2004) is concerned with educating boys and girls of his time from the acceptance of the symbolic world of the child and generating learning scenarios adapted to them. That is, what is social is connected with education. Very briefly it can be said that one of the elements that should be present at school and in other educational settings such as family or everyday social environments, is the interaction between equals. This relationship can be an inclusive or exclusive

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relationship. At the same time, it must be emphasised that the Social Welfare model in Spain is materialised through the Public System of Social Services, which is developed based on three axes: the social rights recognised in the 1978 Constitution; the reorganisation of powers between Public Administrations; and the Social Services regional laws (Pascual and de la Red 1987; Jaráiz Arroyo 2011; Varela 2012). The appearance of this Public System of Social Services requires a change in the remaining support systems. The incorporation of Social Work into the new areas of intervention generated by the system enables the social services system to coordinate and collaborate with the rest. The influence of Social Work is noted with the introduction of the concept of unity in social diagnosis, incorporating the concept of participation and the characteristics of the social environment in the rest of the welfare systems. This continuous interaction, which is the result of the recognition of citizenship in modern democratic society, is based on Durkheim’s idea of organic solidarity and instrumentalised in a global concept in social intervention or global approach to Social Work (De Robertis 1986; Pérez 2005; Gómez del Toro 2011; Vallejo et al. 2017). Focusing on our analysis unit, the International Federation of Workers and Social Workers (FITS) states that the school environment is the first place where family and social problems can be detected (Svatonova and Hoskova-Mayerova 2017). It considers schools as one of the pillars of prevention, since it is where we can detect potential anomalies earlier than in other institutions, in a globalised manner, facilitating an early intervention to change, as far as possible, the situation that is influencing negatively. In the current historical context, schools have become an institution that, due to their universality, house a complex reality: migratory phenomena, job insecurity and situations of poverty, etc., making it necessary to refer to other concepts such as identity versus cohesion and exclusion versus integration. Schools in our society seem to grow in importance as an integrating and standardising institution. Thus, the UNESCO report of the International Commission on Education for the 21st century, chaired by Delors and VVAA (1996), insists, among other aspects, on combating exclusion and academic failure (Gastañaga 2004). One of the main challenges in Social Work is to delve into the types of relationship that exist in a complex social intervention. To intervene it is necessary to understand why and what is being acted upon. Social Work should be thought from the social processes in which it is inserted (Moran Carrillo 2006). The family reality in general, and particularly in the field of its relationship with education, is undergoing deep changes. We need channels and habits that allow us to restore the balance and strength of relations among students, families and schools. Families are primarily responsible for the education of their children and therefore the educational system must rely on families and trust their decisions. The results of the generous work of teachers, families and other social players are outstanding, as they offer an optimistic view of the transformation of education that we are facing, by providing a long list of successful experiences in the most diverse fields, fostering local environments, in many cases with a global, cooperation and learning outreach (Varela 2014).

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Professional actions imply a joint action that leads to a globalised intervention in schools, to address functions of prevention, early detection of disabilities, interdisciplinary assessment, curricular adaptations, parental guidance, family interventions, knowledge of the socio-economic and family context surrounding students, etc., always responding to the principles of standardisation, integration and individualised attention. The presence of social workers in these psycho-pedagogical intervention teams and in the educational centre itself is important, because these socio-educational media represent an essential pillar to carry out the previously programmed plans, due to the influence exerted by their action on individuals, students, the faculty, the family, the institution and the social environment, as well as the resources it can provide (Rubio 2007; Varela 2012). Finally, it is interesting to highlight the role played by the different intervention models in school contexts, especially the Systemic Model. This model considers that all people, since they are born, are included in different systems, and this belonging marks us completely and conditions our entire life. Thus, students of either gender are part of a family, a school community and a society. When you are in the right place, when people are fully accepted and integrated into these groups, there is balance, tranquillity, well-being, fluency. When you exclude or are excluded from any of these systems, which constitute the basic relational network, there are imbalances that cause various types of tensions, discomfort, dissatisfaction, problems and conflicts, that are revealed, for example, through violence among peers in the classrooms (Sobral et al. 2013). Therefore, we must highlight the intervention of Social Work in the educational context as a help process that allows identifying, in families and schoolchildren, situations that generate discomfort and violence, fostering new perspectives of action that allow them to modify, not only the negative meanings of these, but also their internal relationships. As it is not always possible for families to change the realities that disturb them, professional action will consist in helping them to change their meanings and aspirations so that they adapt to their realities. From each crisis, the family and each member can take opportunities and learn to face new situations. A number of interesting studies can be found e.g. in (Maturo et al. 2016).

2.4 Social Work and Violence in Adolescence One of the main debates about adolescent violence has focused on determining whether it is a specifically educational issue, or on the contrary, it is a generalised phenomenon of society. In an increasingly violent socio-cultural context, it is logical that the educational environment cannot be alien to this social fact, and in this way, or precisely because of this, it is difficult to get the education and socialisation of adolescents to develop in an atmosphere of peace, free of conflicts and aggressions. This social violence impregnates everything and affects us all, particularly minors. In dictionaries of the Spanish language, they speak of violence when an action is carried out that ends in a status “outside what is natural”, a rupture of “harmony”,

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caused by the action of any entity (Real Academia Española 2001); that is, referring to human acts. It is used when they strike “against the regular way”, “outside reason”; when acting against equity or social justice, with momentum or strength (from Latin violentia, excessive use of strength). Without a doubt, violence is one of the aspects of our life that concerns us the most, if it did not exist, we probably would not even talk about peace. It could be said that violence is experienced as the rupture of an “established order”, of a pre-existing harmony, of living conditions in which the expectations of the existence of the human species are realised. However, violence is not “innate”, but “learned” throughout our lives. This has been highlighted repeatedly by UNESCO, in particular with the Seville Manifesto, where 17 world specialists, representing various scientific disciplines participated at a meeting in May 1986 in Seville, Spain. This manifesto has made it possible to make progress in the conception of violence, considering it an exercise of power, refuting a biological determinism that tries to justify war and legitimising any type of discrimination based on gender, race or social class. Violence is therefore avoidable, and must be combated in its social causes (economic, political and cultural). With the progression of studies on violence, its multifaceted nature and its ubiquity in different scales (micro, meso, macro or mega) and areas (individuals, families, groups, institutions, civilizations) have been discovered. Indeed, in today’s world violence is manifested in wars and in all the institutions that support them (armies, arms), in the army (unthinking obedience of the soldier, strong punishments, authoritarianism, hierarchy), in the economy (lack of resources, exploitation, discrimination, marginalisation), in politics (domination of one or several parties, totalitarianism, exclusion of citizens in decision-making, armed struggle for power), in ideology (subordination of information to foreign interests to the “truth”, manipulation of public opinion, propaganda of concepts of violent and discriminatory background), in the family (authoritarianism, discrimination of women, subordination of children), in education (non-liberating pedagogies, pedagogical authoritarianism, corporal punishment, intransigence, unjustified disobedience), in culture (ethnocentrism, racism, xenophobia, gender discrimination, androcentrism, consumerism) (Jiménez-Bautista 2012). It is understood that intervention with adolescents who suffer or exercise violence with their partner, with their families, with their peers and at school, is part of the competencies of Social Work professionals regardless of the professional field where they work. Based on the definition of Amaya (1992), Social Work is the professional activity that aims to investigate the psychosocial factors that affect the health-disease process, in addition to the treatment of the psychosocial problems that appear in relation to situations of illness, whether they have to do with their unleashing or deriving from those situations. The psychosocial concept refers to the causal relationship between stressful, conflictive and traumatic events, and the way to face and experience them. This restricts the quality of life of young people, and of course, their health (understood from the biological, psychological and social perspective). The social effects of violence on adolescents who suffer it must be pointed out: a settling of fear that paralyses them and creates a sense of helplessness and incapacity which gradually isolates them from their environment, losing all kinds of relation-

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ships (friends, companions). When adolescents begin to describe their discomfort, they frequently report that they have suffered insults, humiliation, threats, disrespect, control of clothing, of going out, of mobile telephone calls and on Internet social networks, although sometimes they do not recognise their situation of violence until the abuse occurs. In other occasions, they become aware through working with them in crisis processes, or with the support of other people and/or professionals. Their use shows us how control mechanisms are developed in couples, which go unnoticed among adolescents and are even considered a sign of love (Ruiz 2015). The seriousness of psychological and social abuse does not lie only in being the prelude to physical abuse, which often is: it has serious consequences for health and emotional balance of adolescents. Some authors claim that having witnessed gender abuse or within the family increases the risk of affective and behavioural problems, as well as somatisation disorders. On the other hand, research shows that between 30 and 60% of families in which husbands mistreat their wives, daughters or sons are also direct victims of abuse (Edleson 1999). For all the reasons mentioned above, we must conclude that putting an end to violence in adolescence is a utopia if this task is exclusively addressed from the educational perspective, ignoring those other factors that have an impact on the phenomenon. However, we cannot forget that the school occupies a privileged position to fight against violence because their role is to provide minors, their parents and communities with the knowledge and skills required to communicate, negotiate and solve conflicts in a more constructive way, as announced by the current educational standards. This is what the efforts of society, public authorities and the educational community must aim at, especially interventions promoted for such purpose by the Educational Administration’s social work.

3 Analyses of Results 3.1 Methodology 3.1.1

Design

The study presents a qualitative design following the Grounded Theory method proposed by Strauss and Corbin (2007), which used discussion groups and individual interviews as a strategy to obtain information. It should be noted that the use of discussion groups and in-depth interviews provides the advantage of allowing collecting information in a natural way on how the environment is perceived, regardless of how it exists in objective reality (Bronfenbrenner 1979). Different studies support the validity of this procedure (Sutherland and Shepherd 2001; Zapert et al. 2002). On the other hand, the design included an analysis of the thematic content of frequencies (Bardin 1996) as a preliminary phase to inductive analysis in order to identify the most recurrent themes in the collected data.

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Samples

The sampling technique used in this research is theoretical sampling (Strauss and Corbin 2007), which means mainly that the sampling selection criteria have been based on the need for information and not on the number of people. In other words, the selection of samples has followed criteria of depth and not extension, since what is representative in this case should be the information and not the individual. Since what was intended was to generate a theory from a series of propositions drawn from a theoretical framework of reference for the researcher, it was not necessary to obtain a representative sample of the population, but a sufficient theoretical sample, consisting of one or more cases. In short, what has been done is a sampling of incidents, events or happenings, and not of people per se. People simply provide the means to obtain these data, which is why we use individuals with the greatest capacity to provide relevant information. It should also be noted that in the Grounded Theory method, the samples continue parallel to the analysis of information. Already with the first speeches indicators (events or happenings) have been sought to represent pertinent theoretical concepts, to then compare them in search of features and dimensions. In this sense, the sampling has continued until reaching the point of redundancy (Lincoln and Guba 1985) or theoretical saturation (Strauss and Corbin 2007), that is, until the time when new or significant events no longer emerged, and the categories were well developed in terms of properties and dimensions. In accordance with the principles set out, persons linked professionally and/or academically to the field of Social Work were selected according to the criteria shown (Fig. 1). Three objectives have been achieved by applying these criteria: the theoretical representation of the different profiles (cases) existing in the range of the field of study

Participants

Professionals

Teachers Students

Criterion Scope of work: Adolescence, Family and School. Professional experience: > 10 (More than ten years since the end of the studies). 10 (More than ten years). Dedication: Full time and part time. Scope of study: Social work. Students of the final grade of the Degree who carry out their internships in educational centres and/or institutions that work with adolescents.

Fig. 1 Chart: criteria for selecting participants

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(Social Work and violence in adolescence), the theoretical saturation of information and the adequate group interaction in terms of communication (Suárez et al. 2013; Valles 2000). After applying the selection criteria, the sample of subjects participating in the study was composed of 37 subjects: Fourteen students of the 4th grade of the Degree in Social Work; 17 Social workers in the field of adolescence, family and school (11 non-registered in the professional association and 6 registered) and 6 university teachers of the Degree in Social Work.

3.1.3

Instruments

A qualitative methodology based on data collection has been applied through two techniques: in-depth individual interview and group interview (Focus Group or Discussion Group). These techniques are especially useful for studying and analysing problems or situations with certain complexity and where it is difficult to appreciate their general structure, as is the case of this study, which delves into the role of the social worker in the field of violence in adolescence. Understanding the phenomena studied becomes easier through the perspective of the players involved. Both techniques entail the use of an analysis with a clear phenomenological orientation, since they do not seek decontextualised causal explanations of the phenomenon or situation being studied, but rather reflect the experience (social, educational, professional, vital) as they perceive it, construct, organise, analyse or evaluate the protagonists, imprinting a certain sense within the context where it takes place (Padilla-Carmona 2002). In this case, the experience that was intended to be collected was the vision of people professionally and academically linked to Social Work about their performance in the field of violence in adolescence. On the other hand, in addition to the selection criteria mentioned in the previous section, the prior wilfulness and availability of participants at the time of configuring the sample has been considered. In this sense, in all cases the desire to participate voluntarily in the research of each professional and student was confirmed, and also that they should have at least one hour and a half on the agreed date to conduct the interview (individual or group). Chart 2 shows the profile of the participants in individual interviews (Fig. 2). Meanwhile, it should be noted that in this research, the qualitative information has been obtained through the semi-structured interview technique. The same script has been used for the in-depth individual interview and the group interview (focus group or discussion group), which included three questions: Which factors do you think favour violence in adolescence?; What role do you think Social Work plays in the area of violence in adolescence?; What aspects of Social Work are more committed to violence in adolescence? (Fig. 3). By choosing both techniques (group and individual) for data collection, it was intended to obtain as much information as possible for the study, since each of them offers specific benefits that can be used as a supplement.

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EI1 Scope of work: University teaching in the Degree in Social Work Experience: > 30 Occupation: Professor Doctor of the Department of Social Work and Social Services at the Universidad Pública Andaluza (Public Andalusian University).

EI2 Scope of work: Adolescence and Family. Experience: >30 years Occupation: Social Worker Registered in the Professional Association. Director of family and childhood programmes at the Provincial Council.

EI3 Scope of work: Adolescence and Family Experience: >25 years Occupation: Social Worker Registered in the Professional Association Andalusian Regional Government.

EI4 Scope of work: Adolescence and Family Experience: >20 years Occupation: Collegiate Social Worker Technician in the Juvenile Courts’ Prosecutor's Office.

Fig. 2 Chart: profile of participants in individual interviews according to the scope of work, experience and occupation Group

Academic formation Experience

Professional Experience

Average Age

Sex

S1

SW Dipl.

0

21 years

M (1) F (7)

S2

SW Dipl.

0

21 years

M (3) F (3)

P1

SW Dipl.

(+10)

35 years

M (1) F (4)

P2

SW Dipl.

(-10)

30 years

M (1) F (5)

PC1

SW Dipl.

(+10)

36 years

M (1) F (2)

FAQ1

SW Dipl.

(+10)

45 years

M (3) F (2)

S: students; P: Professionals; PC: Collegiate Profesionals; FAQ: Teachers +10 = More than ten years of qualification; -10 = Less than ten years of qualification

Fig. 3 Chart: shows the structure of the discussion groups used in the study

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3.2 Procedure First, the scientific literature related to the subject matter of the study was reviewed. The consultation of these sources allowed creating the theoretical bases and the academic discussion on the subject (King et al. 2000). This task also involved approaching the qualitative research methodology, and more specifically, the interview technique (individual and group) and the analysis of information through the qualitative data processing program ATLAS.ti 7.0. This procedure allowed for the construction of the theoretical and methodological framework of the study, resulting in the research objectives and sampling strategies, obtaining information, data analysis, validity and discussion of results. On the other hand, in order to obtain and analyse the information, the recommendations made by Galeano et al. (2005) and Hutchinson and Wilson (2003) were followed, with reference to the collecting techniques and qualitative data analyses, as detailed below: • Contact was established by telephone and via email with professionals and students who fit the profile and the selection criteria defined according to the objectives of the research (detailed in Chart 1). In these first contacts, the subjects were informed of the purposes of the study, the characteristics of the possible participation and how the data provided would be processed. Finally, confirmation of attendance was requested from people who expressed their desire and ability to participate in the interviews. • The interviews were conducted in Seville (individual interviews at the work places of the professionals, and group interviews in classrooms and seminar of the Pablo de Olavide University and in halls of the Official Professional Association of Social Workers of Seville). The speeches were collected in audio with an Olympus DS-75 recorder, with the explicit consent of the members of the groups. All participants were informed of the anonymous processing of the data, confidentiality and the possibility of abandoning the study. Informants were required to sign a document at the beginning of the interviews and the focus groups that they declared to have explicit knowledge of, regarding the purposes and conditions of the interview and the use that would be given to the data obtained. • The approximate duration of the interviews was 1 h and 30 min. All discussion groups were moderated by the principal investigators, who are the authors of this work. At the end of each interview, the participants were asked about their experience during the interview, if they had felt comfortable and if they wanted to comment on some aspect of the development, both positive and negative. In this sense, the feedback provided by the subjects was positive. Finally, each professional and student was presented with the option of knowing the final results of the investigation once it had been completed. • The data processing and analysis phase began with the transcription of the audio information obtained in the interviews. The word processor used to perform this task was Microsoft Word 2007. All the speeches collected were transcribed by the principal investigators. The documents were filed electronically in an enriched

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format (.rtf) to facilitate their subsequent analysis with a computer program for qualitative data analysis or CAQDAS (Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software). In this case, the computer tool used in the research was ATLAS.ti 7.0. The analysis of the data concluded with a synthesis of the results by means of the creation of relationship maps or diagrams, that is, complex graphical elaborations that show the connection of the different codes by category (Sandoval 2002). In this study, these resulting graphs were exported from the aforementioned program to Visual Understanding Environment (VUE), to be refined and finally edited. Regarding the ethical considerations of the study, it has been assumed that the informants are subjects with rights and duties, active in the construction of knowledge and not simply depositories of information (Lipson 2003). Thus, the following aspects were considered when collecting the data: (a) safeguarding the rights of those involved and ensuring that their physical and psychological well-being is not affected; (b) protecting their privacy; (c) ensuring the proper use of information, generating relations of reciprocity by having qualified and experienced interviewers (Baca 1996; Hutchinson and Wilson 2003; Morse 2003). As previously mentioned, the above was achieved through a detailed explanation of the purposes of the research—adjusted to terms understandable to people—guaranteeing anonymity and confidentiality in the registration and disclosure of information.

3.3 Analysis of Qualitative Data For the analysis process, the scheme proposed by the Grounded Theory has been followed, as proposed by Strauss and Corbin (2007). The phases of the analysis are specified below: 1. Preparing raw data files: the replies of participants were transcribed and computerised for further processing with qualitative data analysis software (ATLAS.ti 7.0). 2. First analysis of the raw data: two of the principal investigators identified and defined significant fragments of the text and coded them in an intuitive and open manner, without predetermined theoretical assumptions (open coding process). The process followed initially was line-by-line coding, giving priority to the expressions and terms used directly by the participants in the study (in vivo coding). 3. Developing the initial categories (axial coding): after completing this process and as a strategy aimed at the validity of the study, the two investigators contrasted their category systems. The categories proposed by both analysts were agreed upon using the Inter-coder reliability calculator Recal2 (http://dfreelon.org/utils/ recalfront/recal2/), which allowed obtaining a Krippendorff’s alpha coefficient of 0.93. Both investigators worked together based on these agreed categories reading again the data to reduce and group the categories, looking for secondary issues, features of the main and secondary categories and eliminating redundant

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categories. For this they followed a family categorisation process, a step-by-step analytical scheme to move from the descriptive codes resulting from open coding to the first analytical categories. 4. Creating a model of main and secondary categories and their features (selective coding): in this stage the categories, subcategories, features and relationships between them resulting from the family category that the analysts agreed to consider as part of the same theoretical scheme were reduced and integrated into conceptual descriptive or explanatory networks, that is, using the constant comparison method, they discarded categories or hypotheses about relationships between them (noted in the previous phase), seeing that they only worked in a given situation or lacked sufficient explanatory power. Finally, to illustrate the theoretical framework resulting from the entire analysis process, integrating diagrams of the different categories have been used. Diagrams are visual mechanisms that draw relationships between concepts. These graphical representations began to be configured already in the axial coding, but it is in the selective coding when diagrams show the density and complexity of the theory. They describe the theory clearly, synthesising the main concepts and their connections.

3.4 Reliability and Validity Measures To guarantee the rigour and validity of the research, which is of great relevance in qualitative studies (Suárez et al. 2013), four measures have been used: first, intradata triangulation, also known as constant comparative method (Strauss and Corbin 1998) consisting in the systematic comparison of the categories and their features arising from the analysis of data in different fragments of the same material, between different materials, between different subjects, in different situations and at different times to look for regularities or patterns that allow defining a category, feature or relationship arising from the analysis of data as significant. Secondly, the peer review (Creswell and Miller 2000) or inter-analyst triangulation (Denzin 1978), consisting in contrasting the results of the codification of each researcher discarding those on which no agreement is reached. For this, the Intercoder reliability calculator Recal2 tool was used. Thirdly, credibility or stakeholder controls (Thomas 2006): a session has been made to return the research data after the first maps of resulting categories, integrating the contributions of the participants and using them as feedback in the process of theory construction. Finally, the technical literature has served in the writing phase to extend, validate and refine the knowledge of the subject matter of the study, theoretical triangulation (Del Moral et al. 2013).

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4 Results The following is the final results diagram of our research, once the selective coding has been carried out. These integrate the main categories generated by the statements of professionals, teachers and students of Social Work, linked to the core category Violence in Adolescence and Social Work. In the elaboration of this diagram, not all the concepts that have emerged during the research process have been included, as this would be, if not impossible, unintelligible, so those reaching the position of main categories and subcategories appear with a broader explanatory power. The details on the theory that this graph refers to have been exposed in the writing, in the results and discussion sections (Fig. 4). The discourse analysis of students and professionals generated 5 main categories, 12 level 1 subcategories and 10 level 2 subcategories linked to the general theoretical scheme of the Violence and Social Work category. The following table shows the set of categories and subcategories resulting from the analysis (Fig. 5). To illustrate the categories resulting from the analysis, these results are explained below in more detail showing some of the most significant quotes extracted from the statements of interviewees who originated these categories. To respect the principle of anonymity of the interviewees, each of the subjects has been assigned a code to identify the profile to which each statement is linked, so that the profile responsible for each fragment of the statement can be established (student, teacher, etc.), but without risking the anonymity of the person making such statement, whether in the individual or group interview. This way, the coding of the profiles that appears next to the statements would be as shown below: • Student_SW4: Student.

Fig. 4 Map categories, subcategories and final relationships of violence in adolescence and social work

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Category

Subcategory Level 1

Subcategory Level 2

Violence origin

Family

Reproduce Models Overprotection of the minor

Referring (non-intervention) «Put out fires» Judicialisation of violence

SW functions

Not delving into the causes No direct work with adolescents SW difficulties

No problem detection Lack of formation of the SW Adolescent does not approach SW Lack of systemic approach Failure of the Community SS Protection system vs. Community SS

Importance Community SS Significance prevention

Separate the child from the family “Office-type” SW Multidisciplinary teams “Office-type” SW Intervention through others Direct work with adolescents Lack of training in violence

Space for participation Community SS as reference

of of

Fig. 5 Chart: categories and subcategories of violence and social work

• • • • •

SW Graduate +10: Graduate with more than 10 years. SW Graduate −10: Graduate with more than 10 years. SW Teacher: Social Work teacher. Registered SW: Social Worker registered in the professional association. EP_Expert 1 (2, 3 or 4): Participant in an in-depth interview.

In the first place, it should be noted that according to the participants, the origin of adolescent violence would be mainly in the family environment where the young person’s life develops: I think that violence in adolescents must be sought in the family, it is not about whether they are born this way or not, it is related to what happens in the family, I mean even the larger family, not so much in the family nucleus. (SW Graduate +10)

In relation with the potential family origin of violence in adolescents, two essential factors favour adolescents developing this type of behaviour: imitating or reproducing the relationship models that the young person observes in the family nucleus and overprotection of the minors by parents and guardians: When there is a relationship model based on violence, or on bad ways, swearing, … children reproduce that kind of relationship and transfer that relationship model to all areas, with teachers, with peers. (EP_Expert 2) In the subject of violence, there is a common denominator in many cases, which is that kids, when they are children, make us laugh with their pleasantries, all their whims are indulged, and when they are teenagers they want to continue having that power and parents no longer

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know how to deal with that. Then, faced with this situation, many kids rebel and act to get what they want in a violent way, assaulting, insulting …. (EP_Expert 4)

On the other hand, when the problem of adolescent violence is dealt with through the professional performance of social workers, interviewees state the limitations in the set of their functions that, according to them, boil down to referring the cases to other professionals or institutions, and in their own words, to “put out fires”, that is, to try to minimise the problem without solving it completely or without participating in a strategy that goes deeper into the problem and acts on the causes. The truth is that from my experience, I would not know how to deal with it other than looking for places to refer them. (SW Graduate −10) We are putting out fires. In this aspect specifically, we are putting out fires, because, as the pillar of prevention is missing, what is done is that. We go where the flame appears. We reassure the boy or girl a little, and if the mother is overexcited too …. We put the fire out. (SW Graduate −10)

In this sense, the participants in the study especially emphasise the importance of prevention when it comes to addressing the problem of violence in adolescence: We should not wait for adolescence, it should start when they are 5 or less. (SW Graduate) What they should do, rather than what they are doing, is perhaps, instead of starting to work from the age of 12, start educating them, a prior education for development since they are babies, before they reach adolescence. (4th grade SW Student)

Regarding the professional performance of the social worker in the field of violence, it is important to note that the participants dedicate a large part of their speech to describing a series of difficulties related to their work with adolescents who are perpetrators of some type of violence. The first is related to the aforementioned functions (deriving, extinguishing fires) and it is the failure to delve into the causes of the violence that, as stated above, and according to them, could be found in the behaviour model of the family environment where the child is educated. If violence in the context of the minor disappears, that tells us that we must look for the origin. It must be a much more intense, deeper work. You must look for the origin, the causes are usually found in children who lack rules or limits, parents who have little time and so on, these are families that have not adapted well to the appropriate socialisation of the child. (SW Teacher)

According to the interviewees, this lack of attention to the causes of adolescent violence is related mainly to the judicialisation of violence, that the work in this area is based on, and whose usual response to the problem basically involves separating the child from the family: The solution in these cases is to exclude the minor. If the child has committed a crime or has exercised violence in the community, s/he is punished judicially, and the problem is solved. What has caused the minor to commit those acts is not investigated. (4th grade SW Student) I think we do not know how to act, and the first step is to take the child out of the family. I think that the subject is not worked with the family and the child. If you have hit your parents and your siblings I take you out of your family, after certain amount of time out of the family you will return because it is believed that you will not do it again. (4th grade SW Student)

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On the other hand, the participants indicate a factor related also to the lack of thoroughness in the work with violence, because the performance of the social workers has been relegated to office work, deriving the intervention with the adolescent to other professionals and institutions and causing, as a more negative consequence for the work of the social worker, a lack of direct contact with the adolescent: They are in their office, they do their project work, but they do not have any contact with the children, who are the users. Violence can be seen in direct personal contact, you will not see it from your office, you will miss the indicators and markers that you need. (4th grade SW Student) We think that things have to be done with the minors, that intervention is done through the parents or through the institution, but never personally. (4th grade SW Student) I personally believe that there has also been a problem for social workers, as there are many who have settled down to sitting behind an office table. We must remember our origins and go back to the field. I think there are contexts that lack Social Work on the street, with direct contact with the user and not behind a desk. (Registered SW)

In this sense, another consequence of the distance of social workers from direct contact with the adolescent and their family environment would be, according to the interviewees, the lack of detection of problems, the ability to prevent and detect risk situations that are occurring but that are not observed by social workers when working away from adolescents: Once the victim comes to ask for help, we may act well and we may be in an institution that can help, but detecting the problem is far away. (EP_Expert 2) I think that when the problem comes, the shit is already all over the place. There is a lack of prevention work, of taking cases when those little nuances occur, when you can say that this can end badly. And that is a problem that no one takes care of … Who has been taking care, from the beginning, to prevent this from happening? It is essential, and nobody takes it into account, both at home and in general. (SW Graduate −10)

According to them, to this difficulty we should add the fact that adolescents do not identify social workers as a reference to go to solve or manage their problems: I think that adolescents do not go to a social worker to ask for help or advice or any doubt they have. (4th grade SW Student) I believe that the difference between adolescents and adults is that adolescents will not seek help. You must reach the adolescents to make them understands that they need help in some respects. It is rare for teenagers to go to social services to ask for help. They will probably be forced to go to the head of studies, but it is rather the other way around, you have to approach them, and the needs will arise. (SW Graduate)

Regarding the keys that would help to solve this situation, the interviewees think that to delve into the causes of violent behaviour in adolescents and to prevent and detect risk situations, it is necessary, in the first place, for social workers to work in coordination with other professionals within multidisciplinary teams. Secondly, they believe that it is essential to claim the performance of social workers in the field of violence in adolescence, as stated above, with the idea of avoiding the current separation between social workers and adolescents, and returning to direct intervention:

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Multi-disciplinarity is very important. When we see a serious case, it is normally seen by a psychologist, an educator and a social worker, and when it comes to guiding as to measures to be taken, we try to reach a consensus among the three members of the team. Each one from their own point of view, we assess the situation, we indicate the existing risk factors and very often we agree on the measures to take. Here we are four teams, each one formed by three professionals and it works like this. (EP_Expert 4) I also believe that we must claim the concept of Social Work, that we come from field work and we have to go back to fieldwork. (SW Graduate)

On the other hand, and continuing with the difficulties found by social workers according to the participants in the study when carrying out their work in the field of adolescent violence, the interviewees notice shortcomings in their training acquired during their student stage. Specifically, according to them, there is little practical content that prepares them for the subsequent field work, and also a lack of extension and depth in the theoretical contents related to the adolescent stage and its difficulties: I think that maybe there is more theory, much written about the stage of adolescence, which is very problematic and so on, but during my university studies I, for one, missed having more real experience in neighbourhoods with kids or in educational centres. So, I think there is a lot of theory on this stage, but maybe what lacks is more professional practice. (SW Graduate +10) Social work falls short in terms of practices and viewing the social reality, not only on violence, but any of its individual and family aspects. (SW Graduate −10) During my training, there was no option for specialising in adolescents as a risk group, I had to specialise later. Adolescence is not dealt with in so much depth. (Registered SW)

The possible training deficit indicated by the participants could be related, according to them, with the lack of a systemic approach in Social Work. That is to say, according to the interviewees, in the field of theoretical and practical Social Work, special emphasis is placed on the family sphere without addressing the complex system that make up the different contexts in which the adolescent’s life develops: I see action here, as far as we have been able to study and experience, more as a family intervention rather than a systems theory, without the context perhaps. We simply work on the family, and not on the adolescent’s full environment. (4th grade SW Student) The family is very important, it is basic, but we must not forget that even the family falls within a context. We must understand Social Work as a catalyst for an area in which young people are an essential part of the future of those territories. (SW Graduate −10)

Participants in the study highlight the important role that, according to them, Community Social Services have in preventing or intervening in the field of adolescent violence. According to the interviewees, this important role should turn these services into a reference for the professional performance of social worker in this field: From the community you can reach families, you can do awareness campaigns …, many things. (4th grade SW Student) In addition to the interview, Social Services are an essential source of information for us. The information provided by the Community Social Services is very useful to us. What history they have, what is being done with them or what has been done. (EP_Expert 4)

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R. M. Varela Garay et al. I think that working in coordination with social services, as I am trying to suggest, and with all the resources that are established in the area with a common goal, is very important. Community Services as a reference. (Registered SW)

On the other hand, while the interviewees recognise the importance of community services, they criticise the limited role played by them today. A role that, in their opinion, is also harmed by the current child protection system: I believe that there has been little action in community services in this area. The truth is that I want to remember, and I do not remember any plan at the Andalusian level or any community service intervention with adolescents or the culture of violence. (4th grade SW Student) In the current community services, there is no Social Work, they do performance management, modern charity. (SW Teacher) One of my biggest frustrations, when they arrive at the centre at the age of between 14 and 23, I think they are kids that we could have worked with earlier, and I think the protection system is a mess. Or children who are in protection centres for many years waiting for their parents to recover … Many children with that profile come to me. I know that community services work very well, but of course, I understand that if the protection system does not support them …. (Registered SW)

Lastly, and more specifically, the interviewees believe that one of the measures that would be most effective at the community services level to prevent or “intervene in the subject of violence, is to create more opportunities for adolescents to participate”, spaces for the kids get caught around that” (SW Teacher) which they currently do not have. Creating spaces for kids …, for example, some of which we know have committed crimes or are near that, I think it is a way to ask for spaces for them, to participate or other alternative activities that should be offered to the kids. I feel that before, when I was younger, there were more spaces, but right now …. (SW Graduate +10)

5 Discussion In this study, the role played by social workers in the field of violence in adolescence is analysed from the perspective of people professionally and academically linked to Social Work. To such end, a qualitative analysis has been carried out through discussion groups, through which the opinion of Social Work students, teachers and professionals has been obtained. The results of this research provide information that is in our opinion very stimulating, about the conceptualisation and lines of intervention in violence in adolescence from the Social Work perspective. As it may be observed in the results, students, professionals and teachers coincide in pointing out that the origin of violence appears associated with social and cultural causes. Particularly, the relevance of the family in the genesis of this problem is highlighted. In this sense, the causes considered most relevant refer to dimensions related to parental socialisation and family relationships, such as overprotection of the minor, and the role of family members as behavioural models (Villalba 2004).

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The previous literature on the causes of violence in adolescence is not very specific in the field of Social Work, which shows that this type of problem is not a priority in the discipline. Moreover, the analysis of this issue from an approach that takes the adolescent as the main reference for the study, even though it may seem obvious, is not the usual approach in research made of this problem from Social Work. Not only is there no collection of specific descriptions of the possible causes of violence in adolescence, it is also not usual to find studies in which the specific characteristics of adolescence are considered as an evolutionary stage or where reference is made to fundamental theoretical models regarding violence in adolescence (Jiménez-Bautista 2012). However, it does show a greater sensitivity and a greater approach to this problem from the family and its relationships. Specifically, it refers to aspects such as the reproduction of parent models, the overprotection that parents currently exercise, the negative influence of the media and the poor importance given to values, which are so important in the world of social, interpersonal and family relationships. Based on these ideas, which have also been expressed by the participants of the study, the proposal has been made to modify or incorporate into the curricula, in degrees and postgraduate studies, these new theoretical references and raise awareness about the importance of participation of Social Workers in this problem. In other words, it is convenient to consider treating and preventing violence as an educational process, to know the influence of the social and family environment, and the importance of confronting the deficiencies that justify the use of violence (Rey-Anacona 2015; Defensor del Menor de Andalucía 2016). Another aspect to highlight are the difficulties of the profession with this group, adolescents, and, especially, with the violent behaviours in this evolutionary stage, something that, in the light of the obtained results, can be attributed to four possible factors: professionalism of social workers, more focused on the organisational and procedural aspects of their work; the importance of the institutions linked to primary prevention, fundamentally the family, the school and the community; the lack of social resources; and the specific difficulties in terms of methodology and framework to intervene in this group. In this sense, we believe it is of interest to emphasise the fact that, traditionally, Social Work has been held apart from this problem, so that teachers, professionals and students have, on the one hand, a certain theoretical and practical distance, and on the other, they see the relevance of getting involved in this field of study. Also, the results of the study indicate that within the legal and administrative context, the role of Social Work is reduced to be a derivative and palliative service without deepening in any of the causes originating violence in adolescence, and even less so, in deepening in the different possibilities existing when adopting a methodological and intervention approach. In this sense, most of the participants in the research express doubts about what are the specific functions of Social Work in relation to the problems they face daily. They also indicate that the set of difficulties they encounter in their daily work may be related to the training constraints that social workers have, which, in some way, are obstructive for the performance of an effective work with problems in adolescence.

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On the other hand, regarding the difficulties mentioned, both professionals and the teaching staff conclude that the excess of tasks related to management and referral hinders their greater involvement in multidisciplinary teams, in cases of adolescent violence. Despite the limitations that have been exposed, ideas emerge in the discussion groups that allude to a very high level of professional self-criticism, in addition to a great sensitivity to social problems, but it seems that the administrative barriers that these professionals have prevent them from making proposals for involvement and commitment in certain socio-community areas. In line with these ideas, it seems that Social Work today continues to focus more on subsidiary and palliative functions than on delving into the causes of social problems, which includes problems such as violence in adolescence.

6 Conclusion and Perspectives As a conclusion to this work, it can be said that, in the opinion of Social Work teachers, students and professionals, violence in adolescence is largely determined by variables in the family context, mainly, by the reproduction of the parental models and overprotection of minors by parents and guardians. On the other hand, the professional role of social workers is excessively limited in the area of adolescent violence, since their work is mainly focused on referring the cases detected and due to the scarce direct contact with adolescents. This fact incapacitates professionals when carrying out prevention and diagnosis functions, intervening only in extreme situations for confinement in reformation centres. Regarding the keys to reversing this situation, the interviewees proposed a greater participation/integration of the social worker in inter-institutional teams, and above all, to demand the direct intervention of professionals with adolescents. Among the difficulties in the effective performance of social work, a lack of academic training at the theoretical and practical level in work with adolescents also stands out, and they suggest revising the current curricula, to include more training focused on direct intervention, both in undergraduate and postgraduate studies. They claim the municipal social services to be the main place of intervention of Social Work and as a platform to create participatory spaces for adolescents. Regarding the proposals related to the work of social workers at schools, in the first place, according to the participants of the study, it would be important to introduce the professional figure of social workers, with a greater presence in the educational field, serving as a fundamental link between the families and centres, especially cases of violence that have been detected. To this question, we should also add the importance of including teacher training at the centres on violence issues and training in social skills for solving conflicts among adolescents and between adolescents and adults. Unfortunately, the authority figure of the teaching staff is not often an obstacle to prevent certain disruptive behaviours. Therefore, it seems necessary to train teachers and equip them with behavioural management tools in the classroom, to optimise

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the teaching-learning process, and to prevent future violent behaviours within the classroom (Mateo et al. 2015). In short, the results of this study indicate the need to review the profile of Social Work, with the idea of giving it a greater orientation towards practice and theoretical training in specific problems of the adolescent stage, such as violence. Throughout these last years, the family has been the context in which social work has basically centred its praxis and its study, developing in this area essential work. However, it should be added that Social Work can make great contributions also in the subject of adolescence and violence in adolescents, by implementing applied research, focusing on the contexts and institutions where there are adolescents and vulnerable families, on the actions and good practices developed by various entities to combat it, and on the methodological options and forms of intervention with violent and victimised people. Finally, note that this study has an exploratory nature whose aim is to provide a general view of the implicit theories handled by people linked professionally and academically to Social Work, about the role played by social workers in the field of violence in adolescence. In this sense, its main use is to serve as a basis for future research that seeks to delve into the aspects discussed herein, which, considering the previous literature, are very novel and interesting. On the other hand, a series of study limitations that affect the conclusions that may be drawn from it must also be pointed. In the first place, the sample used is not probabilistic but theoretical, and therefore, does not represent social workers statistically but theoretically. Secondly, the qualitative nature of the study prevents expressing or considering the results and conclusions in terms of causal explanations, the authors have taken this aspect into account when exposing the information in this document.

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Social Work: Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education Policies Review and Reflection Carmen Miguel Vicente, Silvia Patricia Cury, Andrés Arias Astray and José Manuel Fernández Fernández

Abstract Since the 1990s, universities have faced new challenges relating to equal opportunities. In this context of it being essential to foster inclusivity for members of the university community, we present a proposal on the role of social work in universities. We describe how it can contribute to promoting acceptance of differences and the implementation of inclusive measures. In order to do so, we conduct a review of how the profession has evolved in universities and analyse the main services in which social work plays a part and its interventions in favour of inclusive policies. With regard to studies of social work intervention in higher education, the main conclusion to highlight is their great scarcity. Keywords Social work · Social policy · Diversity · Inclusion · University · Students · Education

1 Introduction Diversity has become prevalent in its various manifestations in both the national and international contexts in recent years, and the same has consequently happened in higher education. This diversity is represented by students with functional diversity and students who are immigrants or from ethnic minority groups, among other profiles—that is, groups who are under-represented in higher education, also known as C. Miguel Vicente (B) · S. P. Cury · A. Arias Astray · J. M. Fernández Fernández Faculty of Social Work, University Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain e-mail: [email protected] A. Arias Astray e-mail: [email protected] J. M. Fernández Fernández e-mail: [email protected] S. P. Cury Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, University UNIR, Madrid, Spain [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_4

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non-traditional students (González 2010). Students with functional diversity and students from different cultures have needs and aspirations, have a voice, and demand inclusive higher education. Diversity is a reality that requires the implementation of inclusive education that is opposed to discrimination and hence to social exclusion (Babic and Dowling 2015; Hopkins 2011; Bilbao 2010). It is from this perspective that Complutense University, Madrid promotes excellence among students and policies based on diversity and inclusion in the university context, transnational mobility, skilled employment, sport, associations, leisure and free time, and the management of diversity in research, innovation, development and sustainability. In addition to being a centre for academic and research excellence, universities are intended to promote the social, physical and mental wellbeing of all of their members: students, teaching and research staff, and administration and services staff. Within this context, a social work unit should provide a response to the social demands of the university community, whether these demands are particular or structural, through comprehensive social care. The objective of this chapter is to describe the field of social worker intervention in the context of higher education. We first focus on an examination of educational inclusion and diversity in Spanish university education. Second, we present a review of the literature regarding social work in the university context. We draw some conclusions on that basis regarding the future and challenges that social work faces in various higher education environments.

2 Educational Diversity and Inclusion People are different for unlimited reasons: interests, motivations, learning rates, social group of origin, sex, life expectancy, sensory, motor and mental skills, work opportunities and experiences, language, ideology, and many others. The causes of diversity are also varied (Hoskova-Mayerova and Rosicka 2015). They range from internal genetic and evolutionary to contextual and environmental factors. Difference enriches human life and gives rise to complementarity. When “being different” produces inequality, unfairness and social injustice (Bayot et al. 2002), our existence is limited and impoverished. We therefore celebrate diversity, which according to Fontana (2009) we can define as the characteristic that is present in the universe whereby each being is different in its physiological, biological and psychological structure with relation to its physical, social, cultural and historical context. Fontana continues by stating that these aspects that mark out each individual or group manifest in their relations with others, where differences and similarities are highlighted, imposed or complement each other. It is the human condition itself—philogenesis—that links all people across the various ethnicities and cultures, regardless of colour, customs, beliefs, values, social position, sex, size, religion or any other condition.

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The acceptance and promotion of diversity can be both taught and learned. Education based on a diversity-friendly model is possible, though it may entail dismantling some of the most deep-rooted beliefs with respect to human differences (Echeita 2004). In this regard, education is the motor of the future: it represents one of the most powerful means to effect this kind of change. One of the most critical challenges will be to alter patterns of thinking so as to take into account the growing complexity and speed with which changes are happening and the unpredictability of our world, according to Mayor Zaragoza (as cited in Morin 1999). Education must also be based on context-specific knowledge with the capability to open up new spaces for justice and fairness (López 2000). At the same time, it must contribute to developing as fully as possible the potential of a person throughout their lifetime, allowing them to act and express themselves with freedom and share in the collective hope for a viable future. In short, diversity is natural in any human group and education is of the utmost importance when interpreting it (Van Middelkoop et al. 2017; Jiménez 2010). We are born equal as defenceless beings, but with different capacities and potentials that are moulded by the social context. Education is one of the principal moulding agents. Its quality will to a large extent determine the capacity for and degree of social and educational inclusion and exclusion of students. The aim of inclusive education is to turn educational environments into inclusive communities (Stainback and Stainback 2007). The objective of this educational model is to guarantee that all students are accepted on equal conditions and recognized for what they have to offer in the educational context. For this to be the case, it is necessary to offer the necessary curricular adjustments, resources and support to ensure that learning is satisfactory. Particular attention is paid in this kind of education to accommodating and respecting each student and to students learning to respect themselves and others. The starting point is hence the conviction that every person has to offer something positive to society. This approach, used in pre-university education, began as an effort to accommodate and support students with disabilities in ordinary schools and classrooms (Stainback and Stainback 2007). In the context of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) it has now become necessary to promote the same approach in universities in order to secure inclusive and high-quality education in these institutions as well. It is therefore crucial for university institutions to broaden their outlook and take into account student profiles that need assistance in order for their learning to be satisfactory (Hoskova-Mayerova 2011). In this context, supporting and accompanying students on the educational and social planes of their university life becomes significant. It is particularly the latter that underlines the importance of social work in the university environment. One of the fundamental principles set forth in the Spanish Code of Conduct for Social Work (Código Deontológico de Trabajo Social) is respect for diversity, with the objective of confronting life’s challenges and promoting personal and social wellbeing. It is necessary to work within a new educational and social framework in the university context. If equality of opportunity represents the ideal in a democratic society, then

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in the area of education particular attention must be paid to students at risk of social exclusion, so that their potential is not stymied by their different starting points (Jiménez 2010; Vallejo et al. 2017).

3 Education for Diversity in Higher Education One of the fundamental tasks of education in the twenty-first century is to teach and learn the diversity of the human species (Delors et al. 1996; Morin 1999). Social and educational support for diversity was initially often associated with functional diversity or learning difficulties. Measures were designed to compensate for “deficits”, encouraging the reproduction of stereotypes and categorization of students as the measures were aimed only at this kind of student (Jiménez and García 2013). This idea does not correspond to inclusion based on principles of diversity, either for all students, or for those demonstrating exceptional qualities, or for those who come from other contexts and cultures (Jiménez and García 2013). The diversity model aims to ensure that all students achieve the objectives established in the education system within which they carry out their studies, whatever their origin or personal characteristics. The beginning of this century is represented as the era of continuous and profound change, of abundant challenges and opportunities. It is increasingly evident that diversity and the complexity of the demands imposed on countries’ education and skill-building systems are growing, and will continue to do so (Michalski and Stevens 1999). It is hence necessary to recognize the value of diversity in higher education. It goes beyond a concept that is restricted in scope to the disabled population; the contemporary understanding is grounded in principles that arise out of processes involving the exclusion of groups traditionally outside education (Valenciano 2009). Therefore, the model involves the participation of all students regardless of their origins, interests, experiences, knowledge, skills or any other aspect (Jiménez and García 2013; Messiou and Ainscow 2014). For more than a decade, universities have worked to include students with functional diversity in the university community. Universities in Spain remain far from achieving a form of education that fosters complete diversity and inclusion. However, diversity and social and educational inclusion are beginning to be seen as priorities on university policy agendas. For some time, studies, reflections, projects and social and educational practices in the university context have indicated that progress is being made (to a greater or lesser extent) in this direction. In recent decades in Spain there has been a general increase in the number of students in higher education. The growing heterogeneity of the student population, including increased numbers of women and the significant presence of students of “atypical” ages, has provoked interest in this issue from different fields of knowledge. This interest in conducting studies, normally focused on identifying the impact of students’ socio-economic backgrounds and levels, has been directed toward other aspects and profiles of non-traditional students. This has increased the difficulty of

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challenges in terms of equal opportunities in higher education (Barañano and Finkel 2014). The current perspective on inclusion—and more specifically on inclusive education in the higher education context—is not limited solely to the area of functional diversity. There is a move to construct education that favours diversity in the broadest sense of the term. University education policies depend on many factors to ensure that they are implemented in an effective manner that secures both access to higher education and retention and graduation. It is worth noting the factors referring to attitudes among the university community, family and citizens in terms of diversity and inclusion—and above all, in terms of fairness. Diversity must take priority over uniformity. Producing profound change in a context as complex as higher education requires precision, opportunity and successful inclusion and fairness policies. Laws and rules must be approved to stimulate change. The challenge of responding to diversity also requires processes of reflection, discussion, consensus and collaboration within the university community. Change only occurs if the practice of categorizing and labelling is replaced by a vision that is focused on fairness and on normalizing differences across various training processes. This entails a shift in attitude, knowledge and skills (Jiménez and García 2013). For the inclusion and fairness model to work, it is necessary to share a positive vision of diversity (García 2010). And to achieve this, it is vital to be able to rely on the commitment and involvement of management teams and all university staff and students, together with a diagnosis of practices in the university context. One of the objectives of the EHEA is to ensure that diverse students have a place in the university community: a place that allows them to be fully-fledged students. This requires understanding diversity as difference and recognizing it in each and every one of the members of the university community (Jiménez and García 2013). This entails studying and working on socio-educational projects, as well as creating meeting spaces that facilitate student participation and interaction. Diversity in the educational process must be analysed over a lifetime, and not merely for specific periods such as the moment of accessing education. If we base our approach on diversity-friendly education, universities must be prepared to receive diverse students, with all that implies in terms of the adjustment of curriculum and infrastructure. Educators and professionals must work in an interdisciplinary and collaborative manner. They must also have an attitude that is open to change and to facing new challenges, in order to contribute to a fairer education in which diversity is respected and valued. The priority is supporting education as a right for all persons. This approach does not argue that educational care must be individual, but rather than individualized measures should be proposed to respond to individual diversity, including learning rate, interests and expectations, multiple intelligences, cognitive and learning styles, and so on (Jiménez and García 2013). Challenges remain in the design and planning of strategies to offer inclusive learning under equal conditions (Peña 2014). García et al. (2010) refer to this with respect to secondary education. It can be argued that this is applicable to all the different stages of the education system. New EHEA strategies emphasize equality

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of opportunity, to ensure that work continues in the different areas that relate to this process of social and educational inclusion. As regards the actions and strategies to implement in diversity-friendly education, it is necessary to overcome difficulties of all kinds that may arise in the process of integration/normalization of education structures (Alcantud 1997). This idea represents an extension of the proposal of Bausela (2002), who argues that people are different and consequently the education system must be sufficiently flexible to adjust to individual characteristics, taking them into account when designing the model that is most suited to them. It is therefore essential to work for diversity and have the opportunity to access available resources. Teaching staff must bear the particular in mind and identify and report hidden curricular practices that represent an obstacle for students in socially, economically or culturally disadvantaged situations (Granados 2000; Fontana 2009). Experiences mainly revolve around awareness-raising and dissemination activities, tutorial action plans, peer tutorials, curricular adjustments, teacher training and the involvement of the university community (Aparicio and Martinez 2017). In this regard, Galán-Mañas et al. (2014) conducted a review of initiatives by European and Spanish universities to improve training quality in their plans for promotion, accommodation, retention and graduation, as well as improving assistance services for students with disabilities.

4 Social Work in the University Context: Literature Review The results of the literature review presented in this chapter form part of a broader research project whose objective is to conduct an in-depth analysis of social work units (SWUs) in universities. The preliminary intention was to study the field of social work action in these institutions, and to identify the activities and tasks carried out by the different services in order to assess the importance of social work in this area of intervention. The endeavours of social work in the area of higher education teaching and research are well known (Puyol and Hernández 2009). However, little research has been conducted regarding social work intervention in the university context. An exception is the Social Workers in Colleges and Universities study conducted by the National Association of Social Workers in 2011, which analyses the important role played by social workers in higher education environments in the United States. Of note in the Spanish environment is the study by Soler and Murcia (2008) analysing the intervention of social workers in support services within the university. More research should be conducted in this area, which should be more widely disseminated through the university community (Miguel and Aguirre 2014). The United Nations’ Manual for Schools of Social Work and the Social Work Profession (1994, p. 51) stated that “the future of people and of humanity depends to a great extent on the education and training capacity of educational institutions, intergovernmental bodies and non-governmental bodies”. It also noted that if social

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workers trust in the intrinsic capacity of individuals in a diverse context, they can achieve optimal performance levels, attain a balanced view of themselves and, in short, find a place in society that is satisfactory to them and to others. To achieve this objective, some universities have SWUs that respond to the structural or circumstantial needs of members of the university community. These SWUs perform the role of social workers, providing comprehensive social care and working with personal and social resources. Complutense University (Madrid), for example, offers a broad range of services covering health, environmental, gender equality, development cooperation and care for diverse persons. Care is provided through the Social Action Service and through the SWU, the Office for Inclusion of Diverse Persons, the Office for Sexual Diversity and Gender Identity, the Office for Refugees and the University Psychology Clinic, among others. Complutense University belongs to the Spanish Network of Healthy Universities (Red Española de Universidades Saludables or REUS), which seeks to promote the health of the university community and of society as a whole in a context where daily activities are carried out and there is an interaction among environmental, organizational and personal factors that affect the health and wellbeing of those who are working or learning (Gallardo 2016). The SWU at Complutense University provides individual or group care, offering information, guidance, assessment, advisory and assistance services for care and support relating to social demands that may arise in the university community. Among other activities, it also provides coordination with institutions and resources that offer social support, mediation for conflict resolution, social support, and support in the acquisition of social skills for communication and social interaction. Social work is characterized by its responses to situations of social change experienced by individuals, groups and communities. New student profiles are currently to be found in the university context. This entails new professional challenges requiring follow-up and innovation and the identification of intervention models and alternatives to respond to these realities. It also implies the use of more effective formulas, recognizing other people as subjects with skills and strengths and as competent to autonomously manage their own lives, based on theoretical models that fit the context and the social reality in which the intervention takes place. In fact, Arias and Sánchez (2012) state that when one is responding to problems faced by young people, models focused on ‘deficit’ and ‘lack’ must be called into question, instead turning to approaches based on skills and strengths. Equality of opportunity and non-discrimination are closely related concepts. Sometimes difficulties are clearly visible and on other occasions they are subtler, such as access problems involving buildings, services or written tests. It is hence necessary to conduct research in order to design and implement intervention strategies that impact on both structural and personal conditions. These strategies must attack discrimination and favour equal opportunities through social and educational intervention in higher education. A social work intervention model is defined as a coherent range of ideas and concepts relating to theories, feelings, attitudes and actions constructed on the basis of population categories that provide a social intervention guide with relation to a

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specific problem (Aguilar and Buraschi 2014). A combined intervention model must therefore be the approach for social work to pursue, since reducing knowledge from the complex to one of its elements, considered as the most significant, may have negative consequences (Morin 1999); more than one theoretical angle should be taken into account. Therefore, as Aguilar (2013) affirms, an important element of the social work method is the combination of methodological strategies, the use of combined methods and the expression of scientific processes with expertise in the art of practice. Yet practical experience must be taken into account when facts and context permit it. Professionals must be aware of the importance of management, intervention, use of models, use of available resources and techniques that may improve the capacity to intervene and mediate according to the context of the intervention. They must broaden their outlook beyond dependence to encompass capacities and a human rights-based approach to intervention. The European Disability Strategy 2010–2020, within the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training, proposes to facilitate adequate training and support for professionals working at all levels of education. Normalization entails the acceptance of differences and demands a response to diversity (Soler and Murcia 2008). It is therefore important to raise awareness and train the university community on diversity issues. This need also requires interdisciplinary work from professionals as part of intra- and extra-university networks. The purpose of this specialist work is to implement measures to increase collaboration between community resources and universities in order to identify the situation in the university community and produce collaboration mechanisms for improved inclusion and participation of all its members. In addition, these mechanisms should provide for full inclusion in society and the workplace (Dought and Allan 2008; Soler and Murcia 2008). This action will be “most effective if carried out in conjunction with other groups who may benefit from social work intervention skills” (UN 1994, p. 32). In short, collaborative work is fundamental to carrying out professional actions based on the unique and unquestionable value of each person, on listening, respect and support to reinforce their autonomy and empowerment, providing the aid that is necessary (Barranco 2009). In this regard, Ares (2000) states that professionals use tools to intervene. The quality of our intervention will depend on the (technical) tools that we use and also on our capacity and ability to use them. For this purpose, Ares states that three aspects must be borne in mind: the reality in which the intervention is taking place, the mindset for the intervention, and the process itself, being aware of the person’s status as a protagonist who can take control of or change their situation with aid or support from professionals and/or from their social or institutional capital.

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5 Conclusions and Challenges for the Future The aim of this review has been to describe the concept of and practices relating to social and educational diversity in the context of higher education, from a social work perspective. We are still in an initial phase of moving toward understanding diversity as difference and recognizing that it applies to each and every person in the university community. In reality, there is a need to move from mere integration to inclusion. This requires a change in awareness from all. Inclusion is not a shortterm programme whose success is guaranteed. It is a positive mental attitude in confronting the problems that arise with relation to diversity (Ballone and Czerniak 2001; Garzón et al. 2016; Leyser and Tappendorf 2001; Jiménez and García 2013). It is hence necessary to understand difference as a value that forms part of the human condition and reinforce the individual skills of diverse persons in the context of university education. In conclusion, we can affirm that it is necessary to create integrated services on the basis of a holistic and comprehensive model, with the aim of preventing stigmatization of groups and spreading the principles of normalization in the university (Watts and Esbroeck 1997). In short, it is necessary to promote and fund studies on the situation of students at risk of social exclusion in order to identify the main demands and the measures that can be adopted to satisfy them (Díaz 2003; Real 2011). An increasing number of Spanish universities are incorporating diversity policies to guarantee the participation of diverse students on equal conditions to other students and citizens (Fernández et al. 2012). However, much work remains to be done in order to maintain progress in the implementation of human rights. This is ultimately our central focal point. We may end by emphasizing that social intervention in universities is an almost unknown field within the social work profession, in academic education and programmes, and even in professional associations. We propose that the Spanish General Council of Social Work create a group of professionals to reflect and work on social and educational inclusion from a social work perspective in higher education. Additionally, universities should begin to accept that the social work to which they must commit goes far beyond mere social welfare.

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Analysis of the Occupational Health of a Group of Social Workers Yolanda Borrego-Alés, Octavio Vázquez-Aguado and Alejandro Orgambídez-Ramos

Abstract Although there seems to be a high consensus in the study of welfare and occupational health in social workers, there are very few studies conducted from the new positive perspective of the psychology of occupational health. From this perspective, engagement appears as a key concept in the welfare and motivation of these workers. In this sense, the objective of this study is to describe the level of engagement in the work of a sample of social workers in the province of Huelva (Spain) based on labor and sociodemographic characteristics. The results of this research suggest that the increase of labor and personal resources in social workers would increase the levels of engagement and the improvement of both health and quality of care for users of social and community centers. Keywords Engagement · Positive occupational psychology · Quality of working life · Social workers · Social intervention · Occupational health · Social services

1 Introduction Since the end of the 20th century, the analysis of working environment and conditions in organizations has evolved from a negative perspective, focused exclusively on stress and burnout (Gil-Monte 2012), towards a more positive and oriented perspective to the improvement of the quality of working life of people (Snyder and Y. Borrego-Alés · O. Vázquez-Aguado (B) School of Social Work, University of Huelva, Campus of El Carmen, Avenida Tres de Marzo, s/n, 21071 Huelva, Spain e-mail: [email protected] Y. Borrego-Alés e-mail: [email protected] A. Orgambídez-Ramos Facultad de Estudios Sociales y del Trabajo, University of Malaga, Avenida Francisco Trujillo Villanueva, s/n, 29001 Málaga, Spain e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_5

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López 2009). This change in perspective is even more important considering the current context of economic and financial crisis in the Community Social Services and in the characteristics of the work carried out by professionals in the aid professions (educators, health workers and social workers): dealing with users and families, direct contact with situations of poverty and social exclusion, emotional self-control, or lack of resources and autonomy to make decisions, among others (Kisnerman 1999; Hoskova-Mayerova 2016). In the case of Andalusia, during 2008–2013, the period of maximum severity of the economic crisis in Spain, the social services where social workers work have gone through a period characterized by: decrease in available resources, decrease in the number of professionals and worsening of users’ living conditions: unemployment, evictions, less income … In this context, the Job Demands Resources (JDR) Model appears as a theoretical framework that seeks to integrate these two perspectives of study: research on stress and burnout, and research on motivation and well-being based on the concept of engagement (Bakker and Demerouti 2013; Demerouti and Bakker 2011). According to the DLR model, in any profession (e.g., social workers) three types of labor characteristics can be distinguished: labor demands and resources, and personal resources. From the combination and interaction of these characteristics of work appear the processes of deterioration of health (burnout) or empowerment of welfare and motivation of workers (engagement). Although there seems to be a high consensus in the study of welfare and occupational health in social workers, there are very few studies conducted from the new positive perspective of occupational psychology. Research on the elements that prevent burnout and that enhance engagement is fundamental for the design of interventions appropriate to the professional reality of social workers, which will not only result in the physical and psychological health of these workers but also in the quality of the attention of these professionals to the users and people of the social and community centers and services. In this sense, the objective of this study is to describe the level of engagement in the work of a sample of social workers in the province of Huelva based on labor and sociodemographic characteristics.

2 Theory Despite the strong tradition in the study of quality of life and occupational health in work pathologies (e.g., burnout, absenteeism, work stress) and the negative aspects of the human being, Modern organizations are betting on a new approach to work management based on the Psychology of Positive Occupational Health (PPOH) (Bakker et al. 2012; Llorens et al. 2007). This new perspective focuses on the evaluation and intervention in the positive aspects of work and organizations, with a view to optimizing jobs and enhancing the well-being of employees. The consideration of “positive” employees working in “positive” positions is the basis of modern organizations, whose objective is focused

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on the integral health of employees and the production of “positive” and excellence outputs as a competitive advantage in the market current (Llorens et al. 2007). However, the concept of “positive” employees and positions can and should be transferred to socio-health professionals, such as social workers. So important is the prevention of pathologies characteristic of the social care professions (e.g., burnout) as the development of occupational health of social workers (Hombrados and Cosano 2011), which ultimately implies a better professional performance and a more appropriate treatment and adjusted to the social needs of users of social and community centers (Esteban 2014; Soitu ¸ and Johansen 2017; Svarcova et al. 2016). Within the perspective of Positive Occupational Health, new models and concepts of analysis of workers’ occupational health have emerged, highlighting among them the Job Demands Resources Model and its central concept, engagement (Bakker and Demerouti 2013; Demerouti and Bakker 2011). According to the JDR model, in any type of work three types of characteristics can be differentiated: labor demands and resources, and personal resources. Labor demands are those characteristics of the organization of work that demand from the worker an effort to be made and this effort has a physical and/or psychological (mental or emotional) cost associated with it. Examples of labor demands in the context of Social Work would be work overload (e.g., excessive number of users to attend in a very short period of time, few resources to handle complicated situations) or having to show empathy or positive emotions when the opposite is felt (e.g., giving bad news to a user, addressing a situation that personally displeases him). On the contrary, the labor resources would be those characteristics of the work necessary to face the demands in the workplace (Bakker and Demerouti 2013; Demerouti and Bakker 2011). Specifically, labor resources are the physical, psychological, social or organizational characteristics that (Bakker and Demerouti 2013): (a) allow the achievement of objectives, (b) reduce labor demands and their associated costs (e.g., the help of a partner to cope with overwork) and (c) promote growth and personal and professional development (e.g., training to acquire new knowledge and professional skills). Finally, personal resources are positive self-evaluations linked to resilience related to the perception of one’s ability to control and influence the environment (Bakker and Demerouti 2013) (Fig. 1). According to the JDR Model, labor demands and resources are the triggers of two relatively independent processes, known as the process of deterioration of health associated with burnout, and the motivation process associated with engagement. The high labor demands cause in the person the syndrome of burning at work while labor resources are associated with worker engagement (Bakker and Demerouti 2013, 2009). In this way, labor demands are generally the main predictors of variables such as emotional exhaustion or psychosomatic health problems, and resources the most important antecedents of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and engagement (Bakker and Demerouti 2013). The reasons for the differential effect of demands and resources is that work basically demands effort and consumes energy resources, while resources satisfy basic human needs such as needs for autonomy, relationship and self-efficacy (Deci and Ryan 2000). On the other hand, personal resources are reciprocally related to labor resources and engagement over time: a person with

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Fig. 1 The job demands-resources model

many personal resources, will have a great self-esteem and greater may be the match between their abilities and the goals that are marked, thus improving their levels of self-efficacy. Focusing on engagement as the cornerstone of the motivational process according to the JDR Model, engagement is defined as a positive mental state associated with work and characterized by high levels of vigor, dedication and absorption (Schaufeli et al. 2002; Schaufeli and Bakker 2004). Strength refers to the high levels of energy and mental resistance when working, associated with the desire to invest time, energy and effort at work even when difficulties and obstacles arise. The dedication refers to the high labor implication, together with the manifestation of a sense of meaning, enthusiasm, pride in work and inspiration. Absorption appears when the person is totally concentrated in the work, so that he feels that time passes very quickly and he experiences difficulties to disconnect from what he is doing (Schaufeli et al. 2002; Schaufeli and Bakker 2004). The engaged employee faces the workday with a very good predisposition and with high levels of energy, perceiving his work with a sense of pleasure and fullness. The engaged workers have a high motivation to learn new things, assume new challenges and challenges with enthusiasm, perform their tasks with a high level of performance and efficiency, which reflects a higher quality of service and attention to the user. In this sense, the review of the studies conducted by Saks (2006) and Simpson (2009) shows that work engagement is associated with important attitudes such as job satisfaction, the intention of leaving the organization and organizational commitment, and indicators of productivity in the company such as performance or absenteeism (Bakker and Demerouti 2013). Given that engaged employees feel that the work they do is important and show a better performance in their tasks, they positively value the function they perform and experience higher levels of job satisfaction and emotional commitment to the company.

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The study of engagement is especially important in the group of social workers. The weakening of the Welfare State together with the situation of economic crisis experienced in recent years, has implied an increase in the pressure felt by social workers, they have to face multiple demands arising from the demands of organizations, the demands of citizenship and professional values and principles (Lázaro 2004; Esteban 2014). In addition, there are a series of own work characteristics in Social Work (Esteban 2014): – The characteristics of the social organizations in which the professional action is developed, focused on the attention to diverse social needs of its users with a shortage of human and material resources and highly bureaucratized, which can lead to situations of isolation, lack of sense and the meaning of work and deprofessionalization. On the other hand, the distribution of social resources is one of the main functions of the departments of social services and an important part of the task of social workers, depending to a large extent on the situation of social organizations. – The values and the philosophy of the profession of the social worker, frequently appearing the conflict or the dissonance between the work that is carried out and the expectations related to the profession. – Situations of role conflict in social organizations, in which social workers face tasks that are not specific to their work. – The permanent relationship and contact of social workers with the problems and conflictive situations of the people. In this sense, the development of high levels of engagement in these professionals, in the form of vigor, dedication and absorption, would allow the development of positive and adjusted coping strategies for these situations, also affecting the occupational health of these professionals (Esteban 2014). High levels of work engagement would allow, on the other hand, better attention to the social needs of the users of social and community service centers and, ultimately, a positive impact on the communities. For all these reasons, it is important to place the professional in the center of the system, ensuring the quality of their working life will not only improve their personal wellbeing but also, positively, will result in the service provided. However, the importance of the study of engagement has not been reflected in a significant number of associated research. On the contrary, the research carried out in the Spanish professional context of Social Work is still scarce (Esteban 2014; Hombrados and Cosano 2011) and very few developed from the perspective of positive occupational health. Consequently, the objective of this chapter is to describe the level of engagement in the work of a sample of social workers in the province of Huelva based on labor and sociodemographic characteristics, as a first approach to the study of occupational health of social workers under the paradigm of positive occupational health.

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3 Analyses of Results 3.1 Methodology Design and participants A transversal, descriptive and correlational study was carried out through the use of questionnaires (Montero and León 2007). 234 Social Work professionals from social and community services were surveyed, obtaining an intentional and final sample of 120 social workers (51.28%). The following selection criteria were established for the sample: social workers who practiced in the province of Huelva and who had been in the same job for at least one year and in the same organization. 80.67% of the sample are women, with the mean age of the sample being 42.54 (SD = 8.04). In relation to marital status, 63.79% indicated having a partner (married or a domestic partner) compared to 36.21% who said they had no partner (single, divorced, widowed). The years of professional experience of the study participants are around 12 years (M = 12.04, SD = 8.04). 55.56% have an indefinite contract compared to 44.44% with temporary contracts. Finally, 63.25% of the participants reported being working in public organizations compared to 36.75% of private organizations. Instruments Engagement at work To measure work engagement, the Spanish version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) was used (Schaufeli et al. 2002). This scale consists of 17 items distributed in three dimensions: vigor (6 items), dedication (5 items) and absorption (6 items). Participants respond to the 17 items using a Likert scale from 0: Never to 6: Every day. Higher scores express high levels of engagement in the form of vigor, dedication and absorption. The reliability coefficients (Cronbach’s alpha) obtained were 0.83, 0.90 and 0.81 for vigor, dedication and absorption, respectively. Questionnaire of sociodemographic and labor variables A questionnaire of sociodemographic and labor variables was prepared for the study, containing the following variables: sex, age, marital status, years of professional experience, type of contract (indefinite vs. temporary) and type of company (public vs. private). Process The questionnaires were administered by Social Work students of the University to social work professionals who fulfilled the selection requirements previously indicated. The social workers who agreed to participate completed the questionnaires during working hours. At all times the participants were guaranteed the anonymity and confidentiality of the entire investigation process.

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Analysis strategy The data analysis was carried out using the statistical package STATA v13. Descriptive statistics of the research variables were calculated (mean, standard deviation, asymmetry and kurtosis). For the description of the engagement based on sociodemographic and labor variables, the Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated and t tests were carried out for independent samples, assuming a significance level of 0.05 (bilateral).

3.2 Results Table 1 shows the means, standard deviations, asymmetry and kurtosis of the engagement dimensions in the work. The vigor obtained the highest average of the three dimensions (M = 4.21, SD = 0.92) while the lowest average corresponded to absorption (M = 3.86, SD = 0.96). The negative coefficients of asymmetry in the three dimensions of the engagement indicate the presence of high scores. The kurtosis coefficients indicate platykurtic distributions in the case of vigor and dedication, and leptokurtic in the case of absorption. Engagement and sociodemographic variables Pearson’s correlation coefficient was calculated between age and the three dimensions of work engagement. Only a significant (p < 0.05) and negative correlation between age and dedication was observed (r = −0.22): higher age scores were associated with lower dedication scores. The coefficients obtained for vigor and absorption were not significant: r = −0.09 for vigor (p = 0.34) and r = 0.02 for absorption (p = 0.79). A t-test was carried out for independent samples to compare the current, dedication and absorption scores between men and women (Table 2). There were no statistically significant differences in the scores of men and women in any of the three dimensions: t (117) = −0.87, p = 0.39 for vigor, t (117) = −1.31, p = 0.26 for dedication, t (117) = −1.28, p = 0.45. In relation to marital status, no statistically significant differences in vigor, dedication and absorption were found between participants with a partner and without a partner: t (114) = −1.07, p = 29 for vigor, t (106.41) = 0.28, p = 0.80 for dedication, and t (110.69) = −1.11, p = 0.27 for absorption.

Table 1 Descriptives statistics of work engagement (N = 120)

Vigour

Dedication

Absorption

Mean

4.31

4.37

3.86

Standard deviation

0.92

1.05

0.96

Skewness

−0.34

−0.60

−0.28

Kurtosis

−0.33

−0.02

0.21

70 Table 2 Sociodemographic and labour differences in work engagement (N = 120)

Y. Borrego-Alés et al.

Vigour

Dedication

Absorption

– Men

4.16

4.15

3.65

– Women

4.34

4.43

3.90

– With partner

4.41

4.38

3.94

– No partner

4.22

4.43

3.75

– Indefinite contract

4.25

4.22

3.84

– Temporary contract

4.40

4.59

3.89

– Public

4.13

4.14

3.75

– Private

4.59**

4.74**

4.00

Gender

Marital status

Work contract

Organization

Note

** p

< 0.01

Engagement and labour variables The Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated between seniority in the company and the dimensions of the engagement. No significant relationship (ns) was observed with any of the three dimensions: r = −0.10 (p = 0.28) for vigor, r = −0.16 (p = 0.08) for dedication, and r = −0.03 (p = 0.78) for absorption. A t-test was carried out for independent samples to compare the average scores in force, dedication and absorption among social workers with an indefinite contract and with a temporary contract (Table 2). No statistically differences were observed between professionals with an indefinite contract and with a temporary contract in any of the three dimensions: t (115) = −0.86, p = 0.39 for vigor, t (115) = −1.89, p = 0.06 for dedication, and t (115) = −0.31, p = 76 for absorption. Yes, there were statistically significant differences between workers in public organizations and private organizations in the dimensions of vigor and dedication. The professions of private companies obtained a higher mean (M = 4.59) in force than the professionals of public companies (M = 4.13): t (115) = −2.71, p < 0.01. In the same sense, the professionals of private companies also obtained a higher average score in dedication (M = 4.74) than their counterparts in public companies (M = 4.14): t (115) = −3.11, p < 0.01. There were no statistically significant differences between social workers from public and private organizations in the absorption dimension (t (66.09) = −1.25, p = 0.21).

Analysis of the Occupational Health of a Group of Social Workers

71

3.3 Discussion The social workers of the province of Huelva present scores above the average in the three dimensions of work engagement. In relation to its dimensions, it can be said that the first two, vigor and dedication, obtain a score higher than the last, absorption. This fact is striking because absorption is identified with negative risk factors such as work addiction, due to its characteristic difficulty in disconnecting from work, so it can be said that in Huelva, social workers score higher in the more positive dimensions and of inferior form, in the most negative. With regard to sociodemographic variables, the following conclusions can be drawn. Women have a somewhat higher level of engagement than men in Huelva. Regarding age, the greater the person, the lower the level of engagement, being statistically significant in the case of dedication. The Social Work professionals with younger age seem to present higher levels of engagement at work. According to marital status, all groups (with a partner and without a partner) have the same score, without statistically significant differences between them. Regarding the differences in work engagement in terms of labor variables, the relationship between the years working in the same company and the three dimensions of engagement shows, although not in a significant way, that people with more seniority present levels lower engagement. It could be expressed that the number of years spent in the same position can negatively influence the staff engagement status. Regarding the type of contract, there does not seem to be a statistically significant difference in having a temporary or indefinite contract in the levels of engagement experienced by the participants. Finally, it should be noted that the personnel who carry out their work in private companies show, significantly, greater levels of vigor and dedication than their counterparts in public organizations. However, there are no differences between private and public companies in the absorption levels perceived.

4 Conclusion Work engagement appears as an element that allows the design of interventions with the aim of increasing the occupational health of social workers while improving the quality of care and assistance to users of social and community centers (Esteban 2014; Hombrados and Cosano 2011). The actions would focus on the increase of labor and personal resources at work. Organizational resources such as autonomy or training in conflict management (both relationship and task) positively affect the three dimensions of engagement. Equally, access to resources (materials, time, technical information) and the opportunity to apply and develop new competences favors the emergence of work contexts that enhance engagement in Social Work professionals.

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References Bakker, A.B., Demerouti, E.: Toward a model of work engagement. Career Dev. Int. 13, 209–223 (2009) Bakker, A.B., Demerouti, E.: Job demands-resources model. J. Work Organ. Psychol. 29(3), 107–115 (2013). https://doi.org/10.5093/tr2013a16 Bakker, A.B., Rodríguez-Muñoz, A., Derks, D.: La emergencia de la psicología de la salud ocupacional positiva. Psicothema 24(1), 66–72 (2012) Deci, E.L., Ryan, R.M.: The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychol. Inq. 11, 227–268 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1207/ S15327965PLI1104_01 Demerouti, E., Bakker, A.B.: The job demands-resources model: challenges for future research. SA J. Ind. Psychol. 37(2), 1–9 (2011). https://doi.org/10.4102/sajip.v37i2.974 Esteban, B.: Una aproximación a la influencia de la inteligencia emocional percibida en su relación con los niveles de burnout y engagement en el desempeño del Trabajo Social. Azarbe. Revista Internacional de Trabajo Social y Bienestar 3, 123–131 (2014) Gil-Monte, P.R.: Riesgos psicosociales en el trabajo y salud ocupacional. Revista Peruana de Medicina Experimental y Salud Pública 29(2), 237–241 (2012) Hombrados, I., Cosano, F.: Burnout, workplace support, job satisfaction and life satisfaction among social workers in Spain: a structural equation model. Int. Soc. Work 56(2), 228–246 (2011) Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Education and training in crisis management. In: The European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences EpSBS, vol. XVI, pp. 849–856 (2016). ISSN 2357-1330 Kisnerman, N.: Pensar el Trabajo Social. Una introducción desde el construccionismo. Ediciones Edward, Buenos Aires (1999) Lázaro, S.: El desgaste profesional (síndrome de Burnout) en los Trabajadores Sociales. Portularia 4, 499–506 (2004) Llorens, S., Salanova, M., Martínez, I.: Psicología de la salud ocupacional positiva: Concepto y metodología para su evaluación. Promoción de la Salud Ocupacional, pp. 1–34. AEPA, Barcelona (2007) Montero, I., León, O.G.: A guide for naming research studies in psychology. Int. J. Clin. Health Psychol. 7, 847–862 (2007) Saks, A.M.: Antecedents and consequences of employee engagement. J. Manag. Psychol. 21(7), 600–619 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1108/02683940610690169 Schaufeli, W.B., Bakker, A.B.: Job demands, job resources, and their relationships with burnout and engagement: a multi-sample study. J. Organ. Behav. 25(3), 293–315 (2004). https://doi.org/ 10.1002/job.248 Schaufeli, W.B., Salanova, M., González-Romá, V., Bakker, A.B.: The measurement of engagement and burnout: a two sample confirmatory factor analytic approach. J. Happiness Stud. 3(1), 71–91 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015630930326 Simpson, M.R.: Engagement at work: a review of the literature. Int. J. Nurs. Stud. 46(7), 1012–1024 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2008.05.003 Snyder, C.R., López, J.: The Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology. Oxford University Press, New York (2009) Soitu, ¸ D., Johansen, K.-J.: The space of innovation and practice on welfare, health and social care education and practice in Romania and Norway. Sci. Annu. Alexandru Ioan Cuza Univ. Ia¸si (New Ser.) Sociol. Soc. Work X(1), 5–17 (2017). Available at: https://anale.fssp.uaic.ro/index.php/asas/ article/view/456 Svarcova, I., Hoskova-Mayerova S., Navratil, J.: Crisis management and education in health. In: The European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences EpSBS, vol. XVI, pp. 255–261 (2016). https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2016.11.26

Measurement of Disability in Romania. In Search for Comparability Con¸tiu Tiberiu Soitu ¸

Abstract The analysis aims to examine to what extent the methods of measuring a statistical indicator (incidence of disability) make possible comparisons that can be used for shaping social policy and practice at national or regional level. Findings indicate significant differences between the results of various studies. This can be explained by objective reasons, mainly demographics, but—especially—by subjective reasons related to the definition and measurement features. The main findings indicate a need to rethink the whole process of measuring and predicting a major increase in resources necessary for care in the medium term. Keywords Disability · Handicap · Incidence · Measurement · Social protection · Statistics

1 The Washington City Group: International Acknowledgement of the Need to Have Comparability in Statistics Concerning Disability The statistic measuring of disability was the main purpose and focus of the international seminar on measuring handicap, which took place in New York, in the interval 4–6 June 2001, being sponsored by the UNSD, UNICEF, Eurostat and the American Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The seminar, which reunited experts in disability measurement from developed and developing countries, revised and assessed the state of the methods used in collecting demographic data when measuring disability within national statistic systems. The opportunity was used in order to decide the establishment of the Washington City Group for statistics on handicapped individuals. Its assigned mission was to apply the recommendations made at C. T. Soitu ¸ (B) Department of Sociology and Social Work, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Bulevardul Carol I nr. 11, 700506 Ia¸si, Romania e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_6

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the Seminar regarding the continuation of activities for improving the measurement of disability. One outcome of the New York meeting was the acknowledgement of the fact that it is necessary to have statistical and methodological works at international level to facilitate the transnational comparison of data regarding disability. Therefore, the Statistics Division of the United Nation Organisation has authorised the establishment of a group to find solutions to the problems identified during the International Seminar and has asked the National Health Statistics Centre in Washington DC (hence the name, the Washington City Group) to host the group’s first meeting. The objectives of the Group were defined as follows: (1) To oversee the development of a set of relevant indicators for disability, which would then be adaptable for censuses, national inquiries based on samples, and for other statistical formats, throughout the world; (2) to identify and recommend one or several extended sets of inquiry elements for measuring disability, or, if nothing can be picked up as is, to indicate principles for the design of such elements. These would go on to be used as components of demographical inquiries or as supplements in specialised inquiries; and (3) to approach the methodological issues related to disability measurement that are considered the most pressing by the WG participants (Madans et al. 2004).

2 National Data, European Data, Global Data According to article 5 of Law no. 448 of 6 December 2006, concerning the protection and promotion of the rights of individuals with disabilities, “disability is the generic term for troubles/impairments, limitations of activity and participation restrictions, as defined by the International Classification of Function, Disability and Health, adopted and approved by the World Health Organisation, which underlines the negative aspect of the interaction between the individual and the context.” The text of this paragraph refers directly to an international document, suggesting the lawmakers’ concern to relate to a reality and to scientific and professional communities beyond national borders. Our analysis aims to find out to what extent the way an isolated statistical indicator—the incidence of disability—is measured allows comparisons that can shape social policies and practices at national or regional level. According to the data published by the National Institute of Statistics, Romania’s stable population as of 1 September 2013 was estimated to be 19,682,136 inhabitants. As of the end of the same month, the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Welfare and the Protection of the Elderly, through its Department for the Protection of Individuals with Disabilities, made public a total number of 704,313 individuals with disabilities. A summary processing of this data yields and incidence of 3578% of individuals with disabilities, at country level.

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75

The evolution of the number of individuals with disabilities1 shows a constant and spectacular upwards trend throughout the 25 years since data recording began (Fig. 1). Analysing the regular reports published by the Department for the Protection of Individuals with Disabilities within the Ministry of Labour, various publications2

Year

Total population

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

23,143,860 23,118,745 23,093,262 23,062,448 23,009,075 22,938,405 22,885,802 22,852,905 22,825,288 22,809,546 22,779,441 21,627,509 21,521,142 21,382,354 21,257,016 21,130,503 20,635,460 20,440,290 20,294,683 20,199,059 20,095,996 20,020,074 19,953,089 19,875,542 19,760,314 19,644,350

Number disability persons 74,053 225,232 370,462 368,586 462,947 408,429 412,295 410,117 402,275 425,847 423,393 408,120 425,711 459,552 488,054 567,542 631,199 681,558 689,680 689,576 697,169 709,216 737,885 766,153 786,546 791,761

Percentage of disability in total population 0.31 0.97 1.60 1.59 2.01 1.78 1.80 1.79 1.76 1.86 1.85 1.88 1.97 2.14 2.29 2.68 3.05 3.33 3.39 3.41 3.46 3.54 3.69 3.85 3.98 4.03

Fig. 1 The evolution of the number of individuals with disabilities: 1992–2017. Source Ministry of labour, family, social welfare and the protection of the elderly (updated December 2017) 1 Ministry

of Labour, Family, Social Welfare and the Protection of the Elderly, Number of individuals with disabilities Q III/2013, available on http://www.mmuncii.ro/j33/index.php/ro/protectiesociala/ppd. 2 The number of news stories and mass-media “analyses” that give verdicts in this matter is quite high. For illustration, just one such example: “Estimare pesimista: 8% dintre romani au un handicap” [A pessimistic estimate: 8% of Romanians have a handicap], 14 October, 2012, posted at 22:05. Source: www.Ziare.com.

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call the number and percentage of disabled individuals within the total population “alarming”, “pessimistic”, “unjustified”, believing these data to be proof of the corruption of those who assess and categorise these people according to the seriousness of their disability. The context that supports such an interpretation is that of economic crisis, generating pressure for the reduction of state budget expenses, including—or mainly—of state social insurance/welfare expenses, one of the larges state budget chapters. At the same time, the fact that the media present cases that prove the “loose” interpretation of the norms that allow access to social benefits dedicated to individuals with disabilities support the verisimilitude of such conclusions (Svarcova et al. 2016; Urban and Hoskova-Mayerova 2017). The same statistical data may be interpreted not just through a longitudinal reading, but also through a transversal analysis, which would require the researcher to analyse results obtained simultaneously in separate geographical or administrative areas. Unfortunately, the most easily accessible source of statistical information in Europe, EUROSTAT, does not include this category of indicators in its ordinary reports. There is, however, one study made in 20023 —the European Union Labour Force Survey (LFS), with the purpose of providing reference statistical data for 2003, the European Year of Individuals with Disabilities. The ad hoc study looked into 11 variables: existence/frequency, type, cause and duration, limitation of professional activities (type of lucrative activity, duration of activity, mobility issues), the type of assistance required, the type of assistance available/provided in the workplace. Due to its focus on employing individuals with disabilities, the inquiry targeted exclusively individuals aged 16–64, who were not institutionalised. Data is provided for 25 European countries, the 15 European Union members in 2002, plus Norway and nine candidate countries (currently EU member states): Romania, The Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Lithuania, Malta, Slovenia, Slovakia and Hungary. No data is given on Bulgaria, Latvia and Poland (Fig. 2). The data resulting from the Romanian Population Census of the same year, 2002 indicate a total population of 21,680,974 inhabitants. No data is provided in particular for the age interval 16–64, but for the nearest available interval (15–64) the population total is of 14,810,580. Taking into consideration the result reported by the LFS for Romania, de 5.8%, we obtain a number of 859,013 individuals, approximately double compared to the 423,393 we can find in the results published by the Ministry of Labour, for the population overall, rather than for a selection of ages. The most obvious finding, however, is that the high percentage reported for Romania is the lowest of all the 25 countries included in the report, amounting to less than one-third of their average. If we were to look at the maximum value, reported for Finland as being 32.2%, it is over 5.5 times higher than that for Romania. Another study, published in 2011 by the World Health Organisation, tells a different story. The data for Romania, reportedly taken from a Statistical Yearbook issued

3 2002

European Union Labour Force Survey (LFS), available on: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/ cache/ITY_SDDS/en/hlth_empdis_esms.htm.

Measurement of Disability in Romania. In Search …

EU-LFS 2002 Total (%) European Union (25 countries) European Union (15 countries) Belgium Czech Republic Denmark Germany Estonia Ireland Greece Spain France Italy Cyprus Lithuania Luxembourg Hungary Malta Netherlands Austria Portugal Romania Slovenia Slovakia Finland Sweden United Kingdom Norway

77

WHO, WRD, 2011 Total (%) Prevalence Reference year

IFC components

16.2 17.8 18.4 20.2 19.9 11.2 23.7 11.0 10.3 8.7 24.6 6.6 12.2 8.4 11.7 11.4 8.5 25.4 12.8 19.9 5.8 19.5 8.2 32.2 19.9 27.2 16.4

18.4 2002 9.9 2007 19.9 2002 11.2 2002 9.9 2008 18.5 2006 10.3 2002 8.5 2008 24.6 2002 6.6 2002 12.2 2002 8.4 2002 11.7 2002 11.4 2002 8.5 2002 25.4 2002 12.8 2002 19.9 2002 19 2008 or 2009 (?!) 19.5 2002 8.2 2002 32.2 2002 19.9 2002 27.2 2002

Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR Imp, AL, PR

16.4

Imp, AL, PR

2002

Fig. 2 Incidence of disability in the European Union states. Comparative data LFS 2002—WRD 2011. Sources EUROSTAT (2002), WHO (2011)

by the Ministry of Health and containing data for 2008 (or being published in 2008),4 show a prevalence of disability of 19%, an increase of 327.5%. What is more, for 20 of the 25 countries present in the European Union study, the World Health Organisation chose to use the data from 2002. In the case of the other five countries we can see three type of result evolution:

4 Bibliographical

note 88, on page 279 of the WHO World report on disability, WHO Press, World Health Organization, Geneva, 2011 reads: “Statistics annual book. Bucharest, Ministry of Health, 2008”. The data is indicated—possibly erroneously—as valid for 2009, on page 274 in the same publication.

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• Much lower later numbers: the Czech Republic with 9.9% in 2007 compared to 20.2% in 2002; Estonia with 9.9% in 2008 and 23.7% in 2002; • Much higher later numbers: Romania, 19% in 2008–2009 from 5.8% in 2002; Ireland, 18.5% in 2006 and only 11% in 2002; • Similar numbers: Spain, 8.5% in 2008 and 8.7% in 2002. As in the case of the previous comparison of the results of the EU-LFS study with the data provided by the Ministry of Labour, again we find important differences. The 631,199 adults and children indicated in 2008 by the statistical bulletins of the Ministry of Labour amount to less than 3%5 of the population of 21.5 million inhabitants indicated by the National Institute of Statistics for that particular year (INS 2011).

3 Causes for the Differences Why and wherefore are these differences occurring? We can identify possible causes, some of them objective, some subjective. The objective causes are mainly demographic in nature and are related, predominantly, to the different distribution of the population across age groups. In developed countries, the highest percentage of individuals with disabilities is found among the elderly. In developing countries, life expectancy is much lower. The influence of ageing on the probability of occurrence of functional limitations that would generate impairment is a well-known fact; the classical definition of impairment, formulated in 1980 by Wood, included ageing as a major cause, together with illness, accidents and attachment troubles. Another demographical explanation comes from findings and estimates (DFID 2000) indicating a mortality rate—at the age of 5—of up to 80% of children with impairments in developing countries, compared with just 20%, at the same age and in the same countries, for disability-free children. Despite their demonstrable influences on the incidence of disability at global level, these demographical causes cannot explain the major differences between records taken for countries with similar levels of economic and social development, and, to an even lesser degree, the differences between separate reports regarding the same administrative area. Even if we leave aside the data provided for Romania by the EU-LFS and even if we accept the statistical evidence of higher life expectancy in Finland, we cannot accept that the difference between the 32.2% of the Nordic country and the mere 6.6% for Italy (data apparently accepted by the World Health Organisation, as it has included them in its report for 2011) is justifiable solely in the light of this type of demographic indicator. Moreover, the World report on disability acknowledges from the start the relativity of the data mentioned in its statistic annex, which includes information from different 5 For

accuracy: 2.9358%.

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79

sources, some countries being listed with information sourced from 3 to 4 sources (results of censuses, national or international statistic research based on samples, or estimates made by the authorities of those particular countries or by supra-national bodies). In these circumstances, differences of over 100%, such as those found in Romania’s case, are no exception. This finding suggests the action of subjective factors, with a stronger statistical impact than what we could accept in the case of objective, demographic factors. The subjective factors mentioned most often are: 1. Different definitions of the term “disability”. 2. Inaccurate/incomplete/inappropriate or merely different studies. 3. The existence of individuals with disabilities is not reported to the authorities, being kept “hidden” (by families or institutions). The most significant differences derive from approaches in assessing the incidence of disability that, apart from other demographic, statistic, economic and social indicators, have a strong national specificity. What is being measured differs considerably, depending on the purpose of the measurement and the subsequent use of the data. Research may set out to measure the workforce potential within this category of population, such as the European Union’s abovementioned 2002 document. In this case, it is perfectly explicable why it analyses exclusively the active-age population, 16–64 years old. It is, however, debatable why the World Health Organisation picked up the data and presented it as representative for the whole of the population. Results may be influenced significantly by the aspects of the researched and quantified disability. The International Classification of Function, Disability and Health indicate two categories of components: a. factors that pertain to function and disability (impairment, activity limitations, and participation restrictions) and b. contextual factors (personal—health conditions complementary to disability, and environment factors). Most studies only include those in the former category. For instance, the last column of our study, listing the data resulting from the WHO 2011 study indicates the measured components. With the exception of Spain (which did not allow for participation restrictions), all the other European countries in the table take into consideration impairment (Imp), activity limitations (AL) and participation restrictions (PR). The theoretical approach of disability has influenced, throughout time, the manner in which the latter has been acknowledged, measured and reported. For over a decade, the International Classification of Function, Disability and Health has become the main theoretical and practical instrument used globally, thus mitigating this source of influence. The reference definitions and the terminology used also influence what is being measured and the result obtained. The search—which lasted for the better half of a decade—for concepts that would fit best from a scientific, methodological, political and cultural point of view, has yielded many terms that are only partially interchangeable. The fact that this research was carried out by groups and organisations that related to the subject from different positions (theorists and researchers, care

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professionals, political, cultural and economic groups and institutions, people with disabilities or their families, locale, national or international bodies) from different scientific and professional perspectives (medicine, psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, social work etc.) and that the concepts had to observe ethical and political correctness norms (to be non-discriminating, to avoid labelling, to not have a pejorative character, to be inclusive, to be pro-active etc.) resulted in alternative definitions for many of the numerous concepts.6 They have a different impact on statistical results, depending on their area of applicability and on any possible administrative consequences. For example, legal definitions, included in legislation, have the most significant economic and social implications, because when correlated with the rules for categorising degrees of disability and handicap, they do or do not grant access to welfare payments or social services. Therefore, the wider or more restricted freedom the definition and its related enforcement procedures allow to the potential subjects has a direct impact on the state budget. Methodological aspects strictly related to the manner of data collection (based on quasi-exhaustive censuses, on samples or merely on estimates that rely on various models of statistical interpretation of theoretical and practical information) may also explain differences, often major ones, between the results of different measurements.

4 Conclusions Analysing the way the measurement of disability incidence is designed, carried out, reported and compared leads to a number of conclusions, some of them evident and unavoidable. The most important conclusion is that it is necessary to rethink the entire measurement process. The Washington Group on Disability Statistics, endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission, was established to research and remedy the elements that cause statistical data to be difficult to access or impossible to compare. The group has produced several analyses, documents and methodological instruments and recommendations, available on the body’s Internet page. Although all national and international institutions (such as the National Institute of Statistics or the EUROSTAT) are invited to join in analysing, designing and/or using the theoretical and methodological results, no radical improvements have yet been noticed in the global comparability of statistical data, and the abovementioned 2011 WHO study proves this point. Returning to the Romanian space and to the concern shown by the Romanian media for the constant rise in the number of individuals with disabilities, our analysis does not place us in a position to be “optimistic”.

6 See

C.-T. Soitu ¸ and D. Soitu ¸ (2013), D. Soitu ¸ (2014), C.-T. Soitu ¸ (2014b), D. Soitu ¸ and Johansen (2017).

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The paradox is that not only we cannot consider the data to be corrupted in the direction of an unjustifiable growth; on the contrary, we have the confirmation as to the fact that even for values much higher than those released by the Ministry of Labour, which only counts those who receive some form of welfare support, in European statistics our country has the lowest values of incidence, approximately three times lower than the European average. The same order of magnitude in terms of difference we can also find for the data concerning Romania obtained (or estimated) by the World Health Organisation. And this despite quite a favourable demographic repartition by age group, compared to the estimates that concern us, made by EUROSTAT for the year 2061. These estimates indicate that Romania’s population will transition from a relatively young one within the European Union to one of the most aged. Even though the pressure on the welfare budget will not be proportional with the numerical increase, as some of the future individuals with disabilities will acquire this status only after reaching their retirement age, it will still exist, since the budget will have to accommodate the greater need for social welfare, which will generate additional expenses both in the public and in the private sector.

References Department for International Development: Disability, Poverty and Development. DFID, Londra (2000) EUROSTAT: European Union Labour Force Survey (LFS). Available on http://epp.eurostat.ec. europa.eu/cache/ITY_SDDS/en/hlth_empdis_esms.htm (2002) INS: România în cifre. Bucharest (2011) Madans, J.H., Altman, B.M., Rasch, E.K., Mbogoni, M., Synneborn, M., Banda, J., Me, A., DePalma.: Washington group position paper. Proposed paper of an internationally comparable general disability measure. World Bank, Washington DC (2004) Muncii, M.: Familiei, Protec¸tiei Sociale s¸i Persoanelor Vârstnice. Num˘arul persoanelor cu dizabilitati trim. IV/2013. Available on http://www.mmuncii.ro/j33/index.php/ro/protectie-sociala/ppd (2014) Soitu, ¸ C.-T.: Incidence of disability in Romania. The paradox of small numbers. Revista de Asisten¸ta˘ Social˘a. J. Soc. Work, 2. (2014b). Polirom, Ia¸si Soitu, ¸ D.: Being healthy means being educated and acting accordingly. Procedia—Soc. Behav. Sci. 142(2014), 557–563 (2014a) Soitu, ¸ D., Johansen, K.-J.: The space of innovation and practice on welfare, health and social care education and practice in Romania and Norway. In: Scientific Annuals of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Ia¸si (New Series) Sociology and Social Work, tom X, no. 1, pp. 5–17 (2017) Soitu, ¸ C.-T., Soitu, ¸ D. In: Welbourne, P., Dixon, J. (eds.) Romania in vol. Child Protection and Child Welfare. A Global Appraisal of Cultures, Policy and Practice. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London, Philadelphia (2013) Svarcova, I., Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Navratil, J.: Crisis management and education in health. In: The European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences EpSBS, vol. XVI, pp. 255–261 (2016). https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2016.11.26 UN: International Seminar on Measurement of Disability. New York. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/ disability/Seminar%202001.html (4–6 June 2001)

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Urban, R., Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Threat life cycle and its dynamics. Deturope 9(2), 93–109 (2017) Washington Group on Disability Statistics (2004). http://www.washingtongroup-disability.com/wpcontent/uploads/2016/01/WG_purpose_paper.pdf Wood, P.: International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps. WHO, Geneva (1980) World Health Organization: World report on disability. WHO Press, World Health Organization, Geneva (2011)

Researching Ageing by the Life Course Perspective Daniela-Tatiana Soitu ¸

Abstract Ageing is a continuum process and life course perspective is the new way to analyse, to understand, to follow it, to explain it. On our understanding, the life course approach is going beyond life cycles, and accompanies individual in a holistic way. The person become significant in an integrative and comprehensive manner, continuing the humanistic approach from the middle of twenty centuries. The main challenge is to avoid the age as unstructural and functional regulator of personal life. Events, transitions, coping and resilience strategies are integrated in historical time of someone’s life. The study is argumentative and illustrative on this matter, using data collected by interviews with older adults from the same cohort. Conclusion goes to the benefit of life course perspective in studying, understanding the individual growing and ageing. Keywords Ageing · Life course · Social research · Cohorts · Coping and resilience strategies · Life lessons · Integrative approach

1 Introduction In the European Union, Romania is ranked third among states with the largest population decline, after Germany (−187,000; 2015) and Italy (−161,800), as an absolute number. In 2015 there were about 185,000 children born in Romania and the number of deaths was more than 260,000, according to data centralized by the European statistical office, Eurostat. Only the negative natural growth, Romania’s population lost only in one year more than 75,000 people. Old people represent almost 20% of the population (25% in some rural areas).

D.-T. Soitu ¸ (B) Department of Sociology and Social Work, Faculty of Philosophy and Social-Political Sciences, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Ia¸si, Carol I Bulevard, 11, 700506 Iasi, Romania e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_7

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Certain question arises from this situation: How is the life for these people? How was it before? What are they thinking about their life, events, influences and trajectories? How we can best find about these?

2 Methodology of the Study: Events and Life Experience of Cohort Born Between 1935 and 1945, from a Life Course Perspective 2.1 Research Aim and Perspective Our study aim is to identify events and life experiences and their significances for the elderly cohort born between 1935 and 1945. This chapter are searching for answer from a life course perspective. “Life course” can be seen as: (a) age or time; (b) life stages; (c) events, transitions and trajectories (school entrance and graduation, acquiring a job full-time, marriage, divorce, retirement and the like (Elder 1997); (d) human development throughout life; (e) early childhood influences on outcomes in adulthood (Alwin 2012). Life course can be considered as an approach, as a perspective or as a theory (Elder 1997; Elder and Johnson 2003). It is an appropriate approach to investigating environmental changes and their implications on individual development through an evolutionary conceptualization, age; it is a course of life through an array of social relations. A third characteristic set an active individual in shaping his/her own life course while the fourth underline the role of historical influences in the life and development processes of the individual (Soitu ¸ 2016, p. 7). Life course approach provides a way to link early life factors for adult diseases through exposure during life or by a gradual degradation accumulated by episodes of disease, adverse environmental conditions and behaviors that increase the risk for chronic diseases and mortality (Kuh and Ben-Shlomo 2004, p. 6; O’Rand and Hamil-Luker 2005, pp. 117–124; Urban and Hoskova-Mayerova 2017). Life-course and human development emerged by common principles (Elder 1995, 1997; Elder and Johnson 2003; Levy et al. 2005; Featherman 1985; Alwin 2012) as: human development throughout life; the importance of events in the history of life, not as a static situation, but the trajectories that these entail; the individual’s active role in building their development—individual as an agent of their own development; are depending on periods experienced by cohorts of individuals; flexibility of personality and behavioral lifetime; normative influence and age characteristics in individual development through associated roles. Why have we choosed the life course perspective? It may be useful as a theory in explaining and studying: the pathway of life of individuals, arguments on the significance of historical events and periods experienced by cohorts of individuals and adaptive strategies people choose through role-status changes and through experiencing negative transitions etc.

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2.2 Research Design Protocol Research questions: Are there commonalities between perceptions of those born in the same period and who lived at the same historical period? What is the effect of cohort? How they think they have affected by social, economic and political systems, during their life? How they coped with life experiences? How current health status is affected by childhood experiences? How the life-course principles are reflected on participants thoughts? For data collecting we have used the individual interview, with a thematic interview guide. We were search for: perceptions, views, attitudes, practices and behaviours related to events and life experiences of the elderly cohort born between 1935 and 1945. Major themes: A. Personal experience and significant events in the life of the interviewed person. B. Perceptions of personal experiences in the cohort C. Personal and the cohort experiences reported to the social, economic and political life from all 3 periods (before, during and after communist time). D. The influence of childhood on adult life stage and older period. Informed consent has been signed and ethical principles for a social research have been fulfilled. Participants in this research were 21 people aged 71 and 81 years, willing to participate on the interview. Students from a master program were trained to collect ad transcribe the data. The elderly cohort born between 1935 and 1945 are around average life expectancy (78 women; 69 men) and have some interesting characteristics from a life course perspective. They were: children around second world war; young and beautiful on flower power movement; the parents of Romanian baby boomers; the builders of industry and of “the new socialist Romanian society”; the early retired after 1990 (starting with 50, 55 years old); the adults to confront “the transition time” after 1990, struggling for employment and homes for themselves and for their young children; our “Third age/third youth” generation after 1990 and “fourth/fifth age now.

3 Results and Discussions For analysing the collected data, we have used as the method: the thematic content analyses. A. On the first topic, personal experience and significant events in the life of the interviewed person, we have used questions as: What are the significant events in your life?; Why is this event significant to you? (Or what is the importance of this event in your life?); What did you learn from the event? (Or what learning you have inferred from this event that happened in your life?).

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Significant events mentioned on our subjects’ answers can be codified around: childhood (school and work on the farm); learning a trade stage; marriage; migration from rural to urban areas; child/children’ birth and raise; lost of dearests The events are mainly life stages, but also events like bad health events. Among the learned lesson are some keys of success: working and “doing something”; “Being nice and behave”; Do what others do! The coping strategies were focused on the problem during adulthood and emotional coping during later adulthood. Accepting the unchangeable things and going forward we have found as a mature option on adulthood. B. Perceptions of personal experiences in the cohort has detailed by questions as: Do you think that there is common ground for those born at the same time with you? If so, what would it be?; What common elements can you find between you and those of the same generation/with your peers? Common grounds with peers is accepted only the duration of experience exceeds the school towards working place: “There are not so many peers. We are just two from our classmates” (it is referred to a close working and living space); or: “The life is the same during the decades: you should look for your best conditions, to know people, to find the best decision.” The perception on personal experiences in the cohort is became closer as they go to retirements and have time to analyzes, to reflect, to make their own arrangements and to take care of their health: “While we were young and had children to raise, all of us running in all directions to do what to do and work. Now that we’re old, we all have the same problems, troubles, hardships.” C. Cohort experiences reported to the social, economic and political life The following detailed questions were helpful: How have influenced the social, economic and political that you have experienced? How did you handle queries those systems? How did you manage economically? What common elements could you found between you and those of the same generation/with your peers? What influence have on you and on those of same age the period after the Revolution of 1989? Regarding social and economic life, our participants appreciated the better life conditions on younghood considering the migration from rural to urban area; the autonomy and trustfulness in the future: “each one use to have a job (and a home) from the state” and the possibility for “living according to your social and economic status”. At the same time we have found among the majority of answers: common worse basic life conditions (low food, cold winters, cooking during the nights, waiting in line to buy basic food before and after 1980) (Soitu ¸ 2015). As citizens, in the political life, the cohort born between 1935 and 1945 has learned to “keep better personal control—what you talk, with who, about what, when—and be responsible and do what you have to do”. It was considered an obedient attitude toward political system at that time, aiming to solve family problems and personal life issues (Soitu ¸ and Soitu ¸ 2012).

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D. The influence of childhood on adult life stage and older period How did childhood influence adult life? (Or: What influence did your childhood on life as an adult?); How it affected your material resources/economic aspects of your family?; How have influenced the level of education received?; Activities/skills/life organization skills learned on childhood helped you?; How was your health when you were a kid? All our participants on this research have mentioned the so called “7 years from home” which are influencing all life by moral values, principles and attitudes toward education, work and society: “My parents taught me what is good, what is bad, to be good, to see my work, to respect others”; They wanted me to learn more, but I was in the village and did not see what I would have to do with too much education. I use to do agricultural work and sew.” Or “I wanted to go for more education, but there were so much work to do!” As regarding the health status, the risk for chronic diseases and mortality is increased through exposure during life or by a gradual degradation accumulated by episodes of disease, adverse environmental conditions and behaviors. We are wondering if socio-economic conditions during childhood is one of the possible explanation for the lower life expectancy comparing to other European countries?

4 Conclusions There are general conclusions on the researched topic and specific conclusions regarding usefulness and appropriateness of life course as a perspective for this subject. The individual differences are still visible during the life, including later adulthood. The education during childhood and parental models are still influence through the life. For the investigated cohort, the life course perspective is a good approach to investigate and understand. Placing it at the confluence approaches in sociology and psychology, life course is suitable in the study behavioral and social variables on health and wellbeing of human development and aging. Processes are analyzed at macro and micro, the diachronic, targeting both populations and individuals. Life course paradigm can support flexible social policies and educational approaches, research-action and transformative. Life course perspective can flexible, humanize and individualize approaches related specialists in multiple fields when they consider the development of the individual, groups and communities. Looking back to the Elder definition (1997) of life course we may appreciate that our paper bring into attention that environmental changes have had implications on individual development—like: rural to urban migration, changing the place of work:

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from the agricultural field to a fabric, from a house in a village to an apartment in a city. For the participants, the social representation of social relations (to know someone who can arrange something for you or help you) is still on place despite the new structural rules of democracy. We could see that the individual has an active role in shaping his/her own life course and the fact that historical influences in the life interact with individual developmental processes. Acknowledgements The current study was supported by the European Union Horizon 2020 Research Programme COST IS 1409: Gender and health impacts of policies extending working lives in western countries: http://genderewl.com/3

References Alwin, D.: Integrating varieties of life course concepts. J. Gerontol. B Psychol. Sci. Soc. Sci. 67B, 206–220 (Mar 2012) Elder, Jr., G.H. Johnson, M.K. The life course and ageing: challenges, lessons, and new directions. In: Settersen, R.A (ed.) Invitation to the Life Course: Toward New Understandings of Later Life, pp. 49–81. Baywood, Amityville, New York (2003) Elder, Jr., G.H.: Life course as developmental theory. Presidential Address. Society for Research on Child Development, Washington (1997) Elder, Jr., G.H.: The life course paradigm. In: Moen, P., Elder, Jr., G.H., Lüscher, K. (eds.) Examining Lives in Context: Perspectives on the Ecology of Human Development, pp. 101–139. APA, Washington (1995) Featherman, D.L. Life span perspectives in social science research. In: Baltes, P.B., Brim, G.J. (eds.) Life-span Development and Behavior, pp. 659–676. Academic Press, New York (1985) Kuh, D., Ben-Shlomo, B.: A Life Course Approach to Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Ed. a doua. OUP, New York (2004) Levy, R., Ghisletta, P., Le Goff, J.-M., Spini, D., Widmer, E.: Incitations for interdisciplinarity in life course research. In: Advances in Life Course Research, vol. 10, pp. 361–391 (2005) O’Rand, A.M., Hamil-Luker, J.: Process of cumulative adversity: childhood disadvantage and increased risk of heart attack across the life curse. J. Gerontol. Ser. B Psychol. Sci. Soc. Stud. 60, 117–124 (2005) Soitu, ¸ D.: Cursul vie¸tii: perspectiv˘a-paradigm˘a-teorie. Aplica¸tii în COST IS 1409 [Life course: perspective, paradigm, theory]. Applications in the project: COST IS1409]. In: Soitu ¸ D., Rebeleanu, A. (eds.) Noi perspective asupra cursului vietii. Cercet˘ari, politici s¸i practici. [New perspectives on life course. Researches. Policies and practices]. A.I. CUA University Publishing House, Iasi, Romania (2016) Soitu, ¸ D., Soitu, ¸ C.: Religious faith and health status: self assessment in late adulthood. Eur. J. Sci. Theol. 8(4), 41–49 (2012) Soitu, ¸ D.: Social vulnerabilities and ageing. Analele Stiin¸ ¸ tifice ale Universit˘a¸tii “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Ia¸si (serie nou˘a). Sociologie s¸i asisten¸ta˘ social˘a, tom VIII, no. 2, pp. 73–82. Editura Universit˘a¸tii “Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, Ia¸si (2015). ISSN print 2065-3131 Urban, R., Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Threat life cycle and its dynamics. Deturope 9(2), 93–109 (2017)

Time Banks Within the Framework of the Collaborative Economy. A Case Study Macarena Lozano-Oyola and Alberto Sarasola Fernández

Abstract In recent decades we have witnessed the growth of a series of activities that are part of a new vision of the economy. We refer to the collaborative economy, extending its areas of action projects arising in different aspects such as holidays and accommodation, housing, mobility, finance, energy, information and communications technology, and exchange of goods and services. Within these areas we will focus on the banks of time, an initiative that has been consolidated in recent years, partly because of the situation of sustained global economic crisis. With time bank, citizens can achieve a number of benefits while covering part of their basic needs. Thus, we can say that shows economic benefits, both for the consumer who receives a service at a low price or free as part of the producer who provides the service. We also found emotional benefits users as time banks get to feel useful, to be part of the community, a sense of mutual aid is generated … also sometimes benefits arise in the environmental field. As a case study we will use the time bank Nervión-San Pablo de Sevilla. We chose this center for pioneering in the city of Seville and currently have the largest number of users. Keywords Time banks · Elderly people · Case study · Social work · Active aging · Old people · Collaborative economy

1 Introduction In recent years we have witnessed the consolidation of various initiatives that although developed in the economic sphere, have characteristics that differentiate them from activities that fit into the conventional economy. We refer to those that are M. Lozano-Oyola (B) · A. Sarasola Fernández Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain e-mail: [email protected] A. Sarasola Fernández e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_8

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part of the collaborative economy, which is part of a new economic model booming worldwide, including various initiatives and practices. According Cañigueral (2014, p. 30), it is an economic model that “empowers citizens (who are no longer mere consumers to become producers of value in many areas) and has economic, social and environmental benefits.” García (2014, p. 4) defines it as a movement with a clear social orientation and whose foundations are “cooperation, innovation, proximity, sustainability, community, solidarity, responsible production and consumption, and even, ethical finance”. In both definitions we can see that clearly shows characteristics that differentiate it from conventional economics: the role of citizens, social, economic and environmental sustainability …. In short, the economy is considered as a means to achieve the integral development of individuals and communities, considering that resources are limited and assessing cooperation over competition. For various reasons, such as economic crisis (Urban and Hoskova-Mayerova 2017), the greater possibilities of communication that gives technology, cultural changes …, citizens have found other ways to interact with the market, different to buy, such as selling, exchange, loan, rent … that is, the consumer happens to be a taxable person to be an asset subject: – On the one hand, he discovers he can make a profit by sharing their goods and skills with others (e.g., car, house or cooking skills). – On the other hand, you can access the temporary use of products or services that can not or will not acquire. It’s what the American writer Alvin Toffler called prosumer in his book “The Third Wave” (Toffler 1980), word that sums up in one word the words producer and consumer, and that is part of the essence of collaborative economy. To get an idea of the importance of the collaborative economy, we can say that the National Commission of markets and competition and in 2014 became aware of its growing importance and conducted a study on the new models of service delivery posed by technologies information and in particular on the so-called collaborative economy. This model of consumption promotes exchange between individuals of goods and services which hitherto were idle or underused. The growth of this new model of consumption has been boosted by the economic crisis and global awareness that is not as important property as the use made of goods and services. To become aware of the importance of the collaborative economy, we can say that according to the National Commission of markets and competition, it is estimated that this mode of consumption moved about 3500 million dollars in 2013 globally, which represented an increase of 25% over the previous year. However, this Commission states that it is necessary to analyze this new economic model, so that the effects generated to compete with other economic activities are regulated. In the same vein we find the concern to legislate and establish common rules in the field of the European Union. In October 2015, the European Commission recognized that following the economic and financial crises that began in 2008, there are not many tools to promote growth and employment in the euro area. And in its Single Market strategy the government of the European Union has granted crucial to

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the collaborative economy, which creates new business opportunities that generate new jobs. Therefore, to avoid conflicts with other activities in the field of unfair competition (if they are not subject, for example, to pay taxes …) has set the need to establish 2016 harmonization of the laws of the 28 European Union countries. Specifically in 2016 the European Commission presented a European Agenda for collaborative Economy (European Commission 2016) the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. In that document the Commission recognizes the importance of the collaborative economy it is estimated that in 2015 gross revenues of collaborative platforms and suppliers of the European Union stood at around 28,000 million euros. In the same document the European Commission considers that the collaborative economy generates employment opportunities, these being more flexible than traditional forms. In this sense, we can see how citizens, in situations of economic as we have suffered global crisis, they have developed alternative models that could encompass within the collaborative, such as urban gardens economics, social currencies or present case, time banks. These initiatives are mainly based on the values of cooperation and mutual assistance, in which time as currency is proposed. In this paper we present the main characteristics of the Time Banks and focus on the analysis of a case study, Chosen because it has been part of CROSS European project, a project funded by the European Union.

2 Time Banks As discussed, Time Banks are an innovation in the field of collaborative economy that responds to both social and economic needs. Within this framework, people have found an ideal place to socialize and improve their quality of life, to feel active and useful to society space, and where you can feel fulfilled and valued. These experiences can lead to new forms of collaboration between citizens of a town, promoting the relations of solidarity, common good, cultural development, etc. Therefore, we believe that Time Banks are presented as a new proposal whose many benefits deserve special attention, not only from professional practice, but also through the development of studies and research that address in depth the positive impact that participation in these initiatives can have on the quality of life of people. These are initiatives that can not only be a tool with great potential for professionals working in the social sphere, but may provide new intervention scenarios that in turn generate new job opportunities. Del Moral (2014, p. 16) provides the following definition of Time Bank: A Time Bank is a network exchange support, skills and knowledge in which the currency is time. People put their time available to others and hope to have the time of other members to meet the daily needs.

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According to Gisbert (2010, p. 60), we can define Time Banks as: An economic experience of local character that provides the community where it implants of information services that its members can be interchanged using a coin or own currency for transactions whose value is agreed by themselves and whose name is characteristic, recording all transactions between them.

Main feature should be noted that in the Time Bank (TB) exchange unit is the hour, regardless of the service offered or received. Thus, as valued the work of a person performing household chores, that of an economist who makes a tax settlement. Usually only services are exchanged, not products, although some time banks are also integrating the exchange of products, such as Time Bank of Burgos. They are also characterized by being essentially local nature experiences since exchanges are made between the inhabitants of the area in which it is located. So far they have not been successful experiences of regional or national time banks. This is because it is very important confidence among participants and for anyone to feel cheated or have intent to defraud is important that exchanges are made on a small scale for so you can keep personal contact. Although we can not forget that the more participants there are, the greater the possibilities of exchange and variety of services. They run through a promoter and management team, which can be neighborhood associations, cultural associations, municipalities, schools, universities or other institutions (homes for the elderly, prison, etc.). It is a tool that fosters communally services cooperation and solidarity among people. Thus improving community health and quality of life for them. The Time Banks have a number of basic principles (Cuenca 2007): – Equality: among people as in the Time Bank all services are valued according to the time unit. – Confidence: among users of Time Bank belonging to a community bonds of trust and solidarity narrow. – Multi reciprocity: which arises because all participants providing and receiving services. The exchanges are multilateral, so that the service does not have to be returned to the same person who has lent it, but to any other participant of the Time Bank. – Flexibility and voluntariness: the exchanges do not have to be regular but more often they are specific in nature and arise spontaneously, because we must not forget that providers are particular because it is not professional services. – Accountability: Each user of the Time Bank must answer for the quality of the service provided. In addition, each enrollee has a liability insurance. The Time Bank is responsible for monitoring compliance with the regulations and standards adherence partners. Time Banks are already realities we have been finding in many towns and villages of our country, integrating them to a lot of people using, and generate a number of benefits such as:

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• Promote social integration, since the Time Bank appreciates the service provided by every person equally, regardless of age, education level, gender, social class or disability. • Economic benefits, both from the point of view of the consumer, which gets the provision of a service to a free or low price, as the producer or user can provide a service. • Avoid isolation and loneliness. According to Fernández and Ponce de León (2013, p. 94), Time Banks are a resource that “offers the possibility of greater social contact, avoid isolation, prevent loneliness, activate self-esteem, allow intergenerational encounter, maintain activity, improve social cohesion and combat exclusion”. Thanks to the activities carried avoid people immerse themselves in isolation, so it offers the opportunity to share space and time with others through exchanges and group activities organized. • Encourage support network of the person. Through entities Time Bank users can weave a web of intergenerational support, since in these projects involving people of all ages and social status, which makes improve coexistence, social peace and cultural development, both people themselves as municipalities or territories in which the work of Time Bank develops. This benefit occurs regardless of the age of users of Time Bank is particularly noteworthy in the case of the elderly. “Social networks have a positive and protective effect. Those older people who have frequent contact with family, close friends and neighbors, tend to have better mental and physical health than those who are less involved. Moreover, greater involvement with the neighborhood and the community is associated with more social support, more physical activity and lower stress levels” (Lang et al. 2010, p. 13). • Emotional well-being. Users participating in Time Banks get a series of emotional benefits such as feeling useful, considered an integrated within the community in which their daily lives, feelings of mutual aid … all strengthens the bonds of trust and solidarity unfolds part between Time Banks members. For older people involved in the Time Banks, they have a function or occupation within them, so that every person is valuable in offering assistance. This fact makes them feel special and useful to people, enabling them to share knowledge, facts and experiences, thus helping to improve the quality of life of the participants. • Increased activity and exercise. Regular physical activity or exercise, especially in the elderly, contributes greatly to delay the onset of motor deficiencies and improve functional capacity, prevents morbidity and mortality cause many diseases, favoring autonomy, and therefore improving the quality of life. Finally, we can also see that a social paradigm shift is achieved and certain achievements alzanzan as can be: • Ethnic barriers disappear when each group is seen as part of a whole.

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• Age barriers fade with intergeneracionismo. • Strengthen the bonds of community bonding, providing a social support network and support for individuals and families. • Attention to vulnerable groups.

3 Case Study In this section we present a study of the time bank of Nervión-San Pablo city of Seville, which is primarily aimed at the population of the municipal districts of Santa Justa and Nervión, specifically in the districts of Polígono San Pablo, Nervión Viejo, Santa Clara, Las Huertas, and Huerta Santa Teresa Hesperides. The choice of this entity has been based on the relevance of it in Seville. Proof of this is that it has been part of the European project CROSS (Citizen Reinforcing Open Smart Synergies), a project funded by the European Union within the European Macro Program CIP (Framework Program for Competitiveness and Innovation), aimed at creating a digital platform which would give value to voluntary actions included in facilitating relations between public authorities, voluntary organizations and users. This project has been developed in four cities of the European Union: Manchester, Rome, Turin and Seville. To get an idea of the potential of this experience we can say that in June 2016, had a total of 149,370 CROSS users, distributed among four nodes: 55,438 users in Turin (37%), 48,297 users in Roma (32%), 25,136 Manchester (17%) and 20,499 Sevilla (14%) (Cross 2016). In this paper we will analyze with more detail the case of Seville, since we have been part of the working group in Seville. If we take into account the different age groups, in the following chart we see that the greatest number of users is found in people who belong to the group of adults or older (Fig. 1).

Elderly

23.5%

Adult

40.2%

Young 0%

36.2%

10%

20%

30%

Fig. 1 Seville: CROSS users per category. Source Cross (2016)

40%

50%

Time Banks Within the Framework of the Collaborative … 60%

95

51%

50%

41%

37%

40%

33% 26%

30% 20%

12%

10% 0%

Youth

Adults 21% Men

Elderly

Youth

Adults 79% Women

Elderly

Fig. 2 Seville: CROSS users per gender. Source Cross (2016)

Within these users, if we analyze whether there are differences in gender (Fig. 2), we found that this collaborative initiative economy clearly in the case of Sevilla has more female users (79%). To study in greater detail the case of Seville and the importance of the Cross Project, we conducted an investigation, in which we have worked with data provided by a sample of 100 users of the Time Bank Nervión-San Pablo. The collection of information has been through a survey, which is divided into three sections: – Sample context – Satisfaction – Trust Then we will discuss the main results after the analysis of qualitative data using contingency tables.

3.1 Sample Context If we consider the gender of respondents, we must say that of the 100 users in the sample with which we have worked, 70% are women and 30% men, thus maintaining the ratio in the selected sample of total users the Cross project in the city of Seville (Fig. 3). As for the age we can see in the chart, most are adults or elderly. Of users surveyed found that most of them had known the CROSS project through family and friends (Fig. 4). The online route is the least known so in the future should be enhanced as a way to increase the number of users of the Time Bank. If we want to see the differences in gender, we note in Table 1 that both women and men primarily know the CROSS project because they have heard of this project to family and friends, but are prominent differences when compared to the second most

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3% 3%

Adult 45%

49%

Elder Young No answer

Fig. 3 Age group. Source Own elaboration

22%

Friend / Family

7%

71%

Online Others

Fig. 4 First time hear CROSS. Source Own elaboration Table 1 First time hear CROSS by gender First time hear CROSS Friend/family (%) Gender

On-line (%)

Total (%) Others (%)

Female

77.1

4.3

18.6

100

Male

56.7

13.3

30.0

100

Source Own elaboration

chosen option (Others). We also note that it is men who have had more knowledge through online advertisers (13.3%). If we consider the age groups in the sample (Table 2) surprise us again that young the only group that has not known the project through virtual platforms, so it should take into account this fact for the future. We must say that the survey shows we have a wide representation of participants in the time bank for more than 1 year, which ensures that their views are really going to reflect an adequate knowledge of this initiative included within the scope of collaborative economy. Specifically, we see that almost 80% of respondents participated in Time Bank over 12 months (Fig. 5) makes. If we consider those who know the CROSS project for nearly 12 months ago and crossed with the variable gender (Table 3), we can see that there is an association between the two variables (Chi-square Pearson = 3.208), with a low inverse asso-

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Table 2 First time by age group CROSS hear Age group

First time hear CROSS

Total (%)

Friend/family (%)

On-line (%)

Others (%)

Adult

31

5

10

46

Elder

37

2

11

50

Young

3

1

4

Total

71

22

100

7

Source Own elaboration

6% 9%

7%

1-3 months 3-6 months 78%

6-12 months > 12 months

Fig. 5 Time involved. Source Own elaboration Table 3 Time involved by gender Time 2 categories Gender

Total (%)

1–12 months (%)

>12 months (%)

Female

12

58

Male

10

20

30

22

78

100

Total

70

Source Own elaboration

ciation (Phi = −0.179). Thus, for example, it highlights the significant number of women (58%) who know the initiative for more than 12 months ago. If we take into account the different age groups surveyed, we see in Table 4 that among the respondents who know the CROSS project for more than 12 months out the Elder group (46%). As for the type of participation in the project, we must say that we have the opinion of a very similar number of both providers (46%) and recipients of services (54%), with significant differences by gender (Table 5). As for the association of both variables (Chi-square = 5.184) we can say that is a low negative association (Phi = −0.228), which leads us to say that women are mainly recipients of services, while men would providers. By age groups we can see (Fig. 6) are the elder those who receive services at a higher rate, while those adults who would lend them the most.

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Table 4 Time involved by age group Age group

Time 2 categories

Total (%)

1–12 months (%)

>12 months (%)

Adult

15

31

46

Elder

5

46

51

Young

2

1

3

Total

22

78

100

Source Own elaboration Table 5 Type of participation by gender Type of participation Gender

Total (%)

Giving service (%)

Receiving service (%)

Female

27

43

70

Male

19

11

30

46

54

100

Total Source Own elaboration

33%

35% 30%

27%

25% 20%

19%

18%

15% 10% 5% 0%

1% Adult Giving service

Elder

2%

Young

Receiving service

Fig. 6 Type of participation by age group. Source Own elaboration

We must say that both services are rendered as received are varied, and relate to activities of daily life: cultural outings and trips, information technology, domestic arrangements, sewing, coaching, teaching cooking, massage, languages, photography, hairdressing, painting, relaxation, barter …

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3.2 Satisfaction Another aspect that we consider of interest to include in the study presented here is the degree of satisfaction of users of Time Bank Nervión-San Pablo with this European project. In general, we can say that satisfaction with this initiative which falls within the collaborative economy is quite high. Thus, we can see that a high percentage of users are extremely satisfied (65%) or satisfied (34%). Only one woman was not very satisfied with the services (Fig. 7). If we cross this variable gender, we find that although there is an association (Chisquare = 0.611), it is positive and very low (Phi = 0.079), so we can consider that both variables are independent. Thus, in Table 6 we can see that both for men and for women nearly double those who feel extremely satisfied that they are satisfied. By age group, we observed (Table 7) are the elder and young groups who are more satisfied. The group of adults, including a not very satisfied user, and has a similar deal in the categories of very satisfied and satisfied. In addition, it also highlights the degree of satisfaction showing time bank users as to the relationship between the participants (Fig. 8). By gender (Table 8), we appreciate that there are no prominent differences because, although there is an association between variables (Chi-square = 0.020), it is so small that we can speak of independence (Phi = 0.014). 70%

65%

60% 50% 40%

34%

30% 20% 10% 0%

1% Extremely satisfied

Satisfied

Not very satisfied

Fig. 7 Satisfaction with services provided or received. Source Own elaboration Table 6 Service given or received by gender Given or received service Gender

Total (%)

Extremely satisfied (%)

Satisfied (%)

Female

47

22

69

Male

18

12

30

65

34

99

Total Source Own elaboration

100

M. Lozano-Oyola and A. S. Fernández 70%

66%

60% 50% 40%

33%

30% 20% 10%

1%

0% Extremely satisfied

Satisfied

Not very satisfied

Fig. 8 Relationship between participants. Source Own elaboration

Serving age groups, we see that all young respondents are extremely satisfied with the bank time (Table 9). As for the Time Bank service in general (Fig. 9) also emphasizes the high degree of satisfaction. If we make the study by gender (Table 10), again we note that both are practically independent variables (Chi-square = 0.429 and Phi = 0.065). By age groups (Table 11), it is the young and elder those shown extremely satisfied to a greater extent.

Table 7 Service given or received by age group Age group

Given or received service

Total (%)

Extremely satisfied (%)

Not very satisfied (%)

Satisfied (%)

Adult

56.5

2.2

41.3

Elder

72.0

28.0

100

Young

75.0

25.0

100

Total

65.0

34.0

100

1.0

100

Source Own elaboration Table 8 Relationship between participants by gender Relationship between participants

Gender

Total (%)

Extremely satisfied (%)

Not very satisfied (%)

Satisfied (%)

Female

67.1

1.4

31.4

100

Male

66.7

33.3

100

32

100

Total Source Own elaboration

67

1

Time Banks Within the Framework of the Collaborative … 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

101

68%

32%

Extremely satisfied

Satisfied

Fig. 9 Satisfaction with the overall service. Source Own elaboration

Another issue that seems interesting to know is the degree of satisfaction related to the level of care and quality of care provided (Fig. 10). In both cases 69 of 100 respondents showed users feel extremely satisfied, between 28 and 30% satisfied and less than 3% is not satisfied. The level of care received (Table 12), it is men who make a greater contribution to the category of extremely satisfied, while among the satisfied highlights the opinion of women. A similar comment can be done in the case of the quality of care provided (Table 13). Regarding the accessibility of the organization (Fig. 11) They were again very positive, with no significant differences or gender (Table 14) or by age groups (Table 15).

Table 9 Relationship between participants by age group Age group

Relationship between participants

Total (%)

Extremely satisfied (%)

Not very satisfied (%)

Satisfied (%)

Adult

63.0

2.2

34.8

100

Elder

68.0

32.0

100

Young

100.0

Total

67

100 1

32

100

Source Own elaboration Table 10 Satisfaction with the overall service by gender Overall, the service Gender

Total (%)

Extremely satisfied (%)

Satisfied (%)

Female

70

30

100

Male

63.3

36.7

100

68

32

100

Total Source Own elaboration

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Table 11 Satisfaction with the overall service by age group Age group

Overall, the service

Total (%)

Extremely satisfied (%) Adult

Satisfied (%)

63

37

100

Elder

70

30

100

Young

100

Total

68

100 32

100

Source Own elaboration 69%

69%

70% 60% 50% Level of care received

40%

28%

30%

30% Quality of care provided

20% 10%

3%

1%

0% Extremely satisfied

Satisfied

Not very satisfied

Fig. 10 Satisfaction with the level of care and quality of care. Source Own elaboration Table 12 Level of care received by gender Level of care received

Gender

Total (%)

Extremely satisfied (%)

Not very satisfied (%)

Satisfied (%)

Female

67.1

2.9

30

100

Male

73.3

3.3

23.3

100

69

3

28

100

Total Source Own elaboration

Table 13 Quality of care provided by gender Quality of care provided Extremely satisfied (%) Gender

Total (%) Not very satisfied (%)

Satisfied (%)

Female

65.7

34.3

100

Male

76.7

3.3

20.0

100

69

1

30

100

Total Source Own elaboration

Time Banks Within the Framework of the Collaborative … 70%

103

65%

60% 50% 40%

32%

30% 20% 10%

3%

0% Extremely satisfied

Satisfied

Not very satisfied

Fig. 11 Satisfaction with the accessibility of the organization. Source Own elaboration Table 14 Satisfaction with the accessibility to the organization by gender Accessibility to organization

Gender

Total (%)

Extremely satisfied (%)

Not very satisfied (%)

Satisfied (%)

Female

62.9

2.9

34.3

100

Male

70

3.3

26.7

100

65

3

32

100

Total Source Own elaboration

Table 15 Satisfaction with the accessibility to the organization by age group Age group

Accessibility to organization

Total (%)

Extremely satisfied (%)

Not very satisfied (%)

Satisfied (%)

Adult

63

2.2

34.8

100

Elder

66

4

30

100

Young

75

25

100

Total

65

32

100

3

Source Own elaboration

Another of the issues on which I wanted to obtain information to assess the development of the Project cross on the bank of the Nervión-San time Paul was related with the members of the organization, in general (Fig. 12), and we can appreciate that more than 70% was extremely satisfied and a 28% satisfied. Only a user would not be very satisfied with their experience. By gender (Table 16), we see that men have a higher degree of satisfaction, but also in this group we found a user who is not very satisfied. If we study the users who are satisfied or very satisfied by gender, we appreciate that there is a slight association or dependency between both variables (Chi-square = 2.081), but this is low and negative (Phi = −0.145).

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M. Lozano-Oyola and A. S. Fernández 80%

71%

70% 60% 50% 40% 28%

30% 20% 10%

1%

0% Extremely satisfied

Satisfied

Not very satisfied

Fig. 12 Satisfaction with the members of the organization (in general). Source Own elaboration Table 16 Satisfaction with the members of the organization (in general) by gender Members of organization (overall) Extremely satisfied (%) Gender

Total (%)

Not very satisfied (%)

Satisfied (%)

Female

68.6

31.4

100

Male

80

3.3

16.7

100

72

1

27

100

Total Source Own elaboration

Table 17 Satisfaction with the members of the organization (in general) by age group Age group

Members of organization (overall) Extremely satisfied (%)

Adult

67.4

Elder

74

Young

100

Total

72

Not very satisfied (%)

Total (%) Satisfied (%) 32.6

100

2

24

100

1

27

100

100

Source Own elaboration

As far as differences in function of the age group to which they belong users (Table 17), we observed that the greater satisfaction among the young, are-guidos of the elder and adult. Finally, we ask the users of the time bank by the satisfaction with the draft cross in general (Fig. 13) and in this case the percentage of users extremely satisfied decreased (to 55%), an increase of satisfied users (41%) and not very satisfied (4%). If we break this information by gender (Table 18), we see that men are more satisfied. And by age, again are young people, followed by the elder the most satisfied with the draft CROSS (Table 19).

Time Banks Within the Framework of the Collaborative … 60%

105

55%

50%

41%

40% 30% 20% 10%

4%

0% Extremely satisfied

Satisfied

Not very satisfied

Fig. 13 Satisfaction with the draft CROSS in general. Source Own elaboration Table 18 Satisfaction with the draft CROSS in general by gender CROSS project (overall)

Gender

Total (%)

Extremely satisfied (%)

Not very satisfied (%)

Satisfied (%)

Female

51.4

4.3

44.3

100

Male

63.3

3.3

33.3

100

55

4

41

100

Total Source Own elaboration

Table 19 Satisfaction with the draft CROSS in general by age group Age group

CROSS project (overall)

Total (%)

Extremely satisfied (%)

Not very satisfied (%)

Satisfied (%)

Adult

52.2

4.3

43.5

100

Elder

54

4

42

100

Young

100

Total

55

100 4

41

100

Source Own elaboration

3.3 Confidence The third block which included the questionnaire referred to this issue. The first of the issues raised in this area was related to the response of the draft Cross to the offers and demands of users. In the next chart we see the opinion of users, distinguishing by type of participation, with 46 users who offer services and 54 the plaintiffs (Fig. 14). Also, in the light of the results shown in the following chart, we can say that most of the users consider this project responds to their needs (Fig. 15). Another of the issues raised was the probability of participating in the plan (Fig. 16), and except for a complainant that he considered slightly likely, the rest of users saw it as very likely or extremely likely.

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M. Lozano-Oyola and A. S. Fernández 40% 35%

38% 34%

30% 25%

20%

20%

Receiving service Giving service

15% 7%

10% 5%

0% 1%

0% Always

Sometimes

Never

Fig. 14 CROSS answers offers/demands. Source Own elaboration 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%

39%

37% Receiving service Giving service 15% 8% 0%

Always

Sometimes

1%

Never

Fig. 15 CROSS services cover needs. Source Own elaboration 35%

33% 28%

30% 25% 18%

20%

20% Receiving service

15%

Giving service

10% 5% 0%

1%

0%

Slightly likely

Quite likely

Extremely likely

Fig. 16 How likely … as participant. Source Own elaboration

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107

35% 30%

30%

28% 23%

25% 20%

18%

Receiving service

15%

Giving service

10% 5%

1%

0%

0%

Slightly likely

Quite likely

Extremely likely

Fig. 17 How likely … recommend CROSS? Source Own elaboration 35% 30%

28%

30% 23%

25% 20%

15%

15%

Receiving service Giving service

10% 5%

3%

1%

0% Indifferent

Positive

Very positive

Fig. 18 Perception of society. Source Own elaboration

A similar response we got to ask if they’d recommend participation in this project to other people (Fig. 17). Finally, we asked about the perception of the society (Fig. 18) and the results were mostly positive or very positive, both in the case of the plaintiffs as service providers, although with slight differences. In view of the data mentioned, we can say that we are before an initiative in the framework of the collaborative economy that provides numerous benefits for the user of the Time Bank.

4 Conclusions In this work we have wished to reflect on one of the initiatives that fall within the collaborative economy: we refer to the Banks of the Time, in which objects are not exchanged money but knowledge, skills and services. With this type of initiatives we are moving from the donation of time to the exchange, so that it makes it possible for new people to work. Remember that on the

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Time Banks. In them, time is the unit of payment, the unit of measurement, and also the value that allows you to move production to future consumption (i.e., that allows you to accumulate savings). Although we believe that this type of initiatives are not going to replace conventional economics, we believe that you can have a complementary character, to allow certain people can meet needs and provide services, so as to recover the initial sense of economic performance, in which there should be no advantage to anyone. This type of initiatives we come to remember that the essence of the economic exchanges is found in the fact that the members of a community we need, being the exchange a form of solidarity among those of us who are dedicated to activities that do not generate food and the rest of goods and services that we need to live. The exchange of activities with other people to resolve situations of daily life, to facilitate the expansion of contacts and resources, predispose ourselves to trust others … these are just a few of the benefits inherent in the collaborative economy and to the Time Banks. Adolescents, unemployed, housewives, the elderly …, that have no place in the formal economy, they can become providers of services in the Time Banks, that in this way they recognize their skills and give them a second chance to feel useful and to have access to services with present and future could not afford otherwise. For us to be aware of the importance of the Time Bank, we can say that there are now more than 300 worked in Spain. That is to say, we already have a large number of experiences that, using the time as payment of benefits and services, is revolutionizing the way we understand as community solidarity and work. And to show his potential, we have studied in more detail a Time Bank has taken part in recent years of a European project, which has wanted to promote this activity of collaborative economy through the use of a digital platform that allows the relationship between providers and recipients of services of the Time Bank. After studying carefully the characteristics of the sample selected, we can say that in general terms the participants in the European project CROSS have been satisfied or very satisfied with the experience, so it is encouraged in the future participation of new users. We have also detected that the online knowledge of the initiative of the Time Bank is insufficient in that it should devote efforts in the future, given the importance of the new technologies play in society today and is expected to do so in the medium and long term. Finally, we wish to comment that we firmly believe that this type of initiatives, which have received a further boost in times of economic crisis, are not going to disappear when a period of improvement of the economy. The citizens have become aware of the need to be insulated from the vagaries of the global economy, which at certain times out of the market to a large group of citizens. At the same time, that these initiatives of collaborative economy have favored the strengthening of networks of mutual aid, solidarity and empowerment, feelings necessary to meet the challenges of daily life. An interesting approach to above studied problems can be found e.g. in the book Hoskova-Mayerova et al. (2017).

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References Cañigueral, A: Vivir mejor con menos: Descubre las ventajas de la nueva economía colaborativa. Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, S. A. U, Barcelona (2014) Coord, J.: Guide of Social and Solidarity Economy for the Local Administration. Barcelona Provincial Council, Barcelona (2014) Cross: CROSS (Citizen Reinforcing Open Smart Synergies). http://datamente.org/data-progetti/ cross.html (2016) Cuenca, C.: La Gestión del tiempo y su intercambio: los Bancos del Tiempo. En: Esteban, C., De la Torre, I., Martin, J.I., Rodríguez, J.M., De Puelles, I., Vega, P., Fernández, P., Alia, J.C., Vidal, R. (eds.) Gestión del Tiempo y Evolución de los usos del tiempo, pp. 121–134. Visión Net, Madrid (2007) Del Moral, L.: Barter and exchanges of time: immediate answers or proposals in front of a multidimensional and systemic crisis? An Economist Without Borders 12, 15–18 (2014) European Commission: Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. A European agenda for the collaborative economy. COM(2016) 356 final, 2.6.2016. Brussels (2016) Fernández, T., Ponce de León, L.: Active aging: recommendations for social intervention from the model of case management. Portularia 13(1), 87–97 (2013) García, J. (Coord.): Guía de economía social y solidaria para la administración local. Diputación de Barcelona, Barcelona (2014) Gisbert, J.: Time Banks and Local Currencies in the Network. Spanish Confederation of Savings Banks. Imprint (2010) Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Maturo, F., Kacprzyk, J. (eds.): Mathematical-statistical models and qualitative theories for economic and social sciences. In: Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol. 104, 442 pp. Springer (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54819-7 Lang, G., Resch, K., Hofer, K., Braddick, F., Gabilondo, A.: Background Document for the Thematic Conference on Mental Health and Well-being among Older People. European Communities, Luxembourg (2010) Maturo, A., Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Soitu, D.T., Kacprzyk, J. (eds.): Recent trends in social systems: quantitative theories and quantitative models. In: Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol. 66, 426 pp. Springer (2016) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40585-8 Petro Mcintosh, A.: Live Better with Less: Discover the Advantages of the New Collaborative Economy. Penguin Random House Publishing Group, S. A. U, Barcelona (2014) Toffler, A.: The Third Wave. National Editions Circle of Readers, Bogotá (1980) Urban, R., Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Threat life cycle and its dynamics. Deturope 9(2), 93–109 (2017)

How the Local Welfare System in Italy Changes: From Planning to Co-planning Valentina Savini

Abstract The article aims at describing the transition from planning to co-planning social projects. This passage, announced by some regulatory measures of the 2000s, is made necessary today by the increasing complexity in satisfying the needs of society. People necessities are many and the Public Administration, with its bureaucratic rigidities, can not cope with it. A recent evolution of the welfare model (from Welfare mix to Welfare pluralism) has introduced the concept of co-planning in the sense of active involvement of the Non-Profit Sector. The Non-Profit Sector participates, not only when the social service is provided, but is part of the decision-making process that will lead to the sharing of a project/service. The purpose of this contribution, which has no pretension to be exhaustive, is to relate the normative dictate of the L.d number 328/2000 and the empirical translation of the principle of horizontal subsidiarity through social and legal instruments provided by co-planning. Keywords Social planning · Social work · Co-planning · Welfare mix · Welfare pluralism · Non-profit sector

1 Introduction The current system of social services is the result of a long historical, legislative and organizational process. The first legislative intervention in favor of social services is the so-called “Crispi Law”, the 1890 n. 6972, which gave an answer to the serious and widespread problem of poverty, thanks to the formulation of the first social protection system. The new legislative intervention that continued the process of reform which was started by Francesco Crispi, was introduced in 2000. From the beginning of the twentieth century until 1970, the provision of social and health services was mainly V. Savini (B) Dipartimento di Economia Aziendale, Università degli Studi G. D’Annunzio Chieti-Pescara, Viale Pindaro 42, 65127 Pescara, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_9

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V. Savini

economic and residual. People who were socially identified as needy people for provision of the services envisaged had, on the one hand, the State (for the family and the young) and, on the other, the Church (for the weaker categories such as the elderly, the disabled and the mentally ill ones).1 In the seventies, after decades of regulatory void, a process of reorganization of the State, known as “devolved government”, began with the transfer of administrative skills from the State to the Regions and local authorities; the next step was the establishment of the National Health Service. However, the economic crisis experienced by the country in the Seventies has also influenced the ongoing transformation process. The devolved government resumed its course in the Nineties with a series of measures that culminate with the reform of 5th Title of the Constitution. The concept of devolved government is closely connected to the one of “horizontal subsidiarity” conceived as the transfer of public functions to the entity closest to the recipients of the function or task. From the point of view of the relations with citizens, the state must not intervene when they can act in autonomy and its interventions must be temporary. Institutions lead citizens acquire independence and self-sufficiency. Devolved government and subsidiarity have created the foundations for the reconfiguration of welfare structures, favoring some trends already in place “in the processes of reform and change in the forms of management of public services in Western countries. Among these trends we must point out the affirmation of the welfare mix logic, understood as the ever-increasing presence of private actors in the provision of welfare services. This trend has been particularly significant in Italy in the field of social assistance policies, where since the eighties there has been a continuous growth in the number of non-profit organizations that have provided social assistance services”.2 The Non-Profit Sector, as legitimized to work alongside the traditional public actor (the central government), has grown enormously since the Eighties onwards and many organizations have been created to provide services in place of the State. The processes of privatization and outsourcing of welfare related activities are the consequence of this trend. The welfare mix phenomenon has completed the change in the governance logic of many public services. With a formula now abused, it is usual to state that we have gone from a logic of government to a governance. This passage intends to highlight how the governance formulas of some public services […] increasingly provide for the participation in the decision-making processes of non-institutional actors, such as the private bodies that provide the concrete implementation of services, or representative bodies of particular categories of citizens.3

The involvement of private individuals and the disarticulation of the levels of government generated by the processes of devolved government and subsidiarity, give life to a structure called “multilevel governance”, a term that underlines the multi-stratification of territorial levels of intervention in which many subjects are called to operate. The social workers, both public (local authorities) and private 1 Girotti

(1998). et al. (2016, p. 119). 3 Ivi, p. 120. 2 Brunod

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(social cooperatives and volunteering), must work together in order to achieve the goal of satisfying people’s needs. This goal is achieved thanks to the planning activity (Soitu ¸ and Johansen 2017).

2 From Planning … Liliana Leone defines “planning” as the cognitive activity that involves the transformation of materials and conditions; in fact the final result of planning, that can be a bridge or a home care service, passes through a process of transformation from the ephemeral, almost dreamlike plane of the imagined, to the empirical and tangible one of the actually achievable, in which the designer has to solve a series of problems while the construction activity goes on. The term “planning”, encompasses many different meanings. The urban project for the redevelopment of a district, the electrical project for the supply of a factory, the engineering project for the construction of a bridge, rather than the building project for the construction of an edifice. Even the sketches of a stylist can fall into the category of “projects” and although the planning activity involves different phases, it is a substantially “unitary activity oriented towards the invention and realization of very complex artefacts”.4 Every time someone found themselves in the situation of wanting to innovate, improve something or to imagine a better condition of life or work, they found themselves faced with a design problem. In this sense, “planning” is closer to the word “imagine”, but imagining is not enough, it is necessary to find the skills to translate the idea into a concrete project that can find space in reality and that can bring the benefits just “imagined”. “In the “project” connections, intuitions, hypotheses born in a decomposed way are organized in a non-linear way; the project connects and orders thoughts born of bifurcations, analogies and metaphors. The project makes it possible to give a communicable form to the intentions and paths of action that are intended to be pursued”.5 The design of activities, services, and social interventions follows the same construction logic of the design of real artefacts, even though the specific context in which the social worker acts is full of peculiarities that influence the project. The factors that distinguish the so-called “social” sector are: – the type of services produced, that is, people services: in people services it is necessary the ability to act on the basis of stimuli and needs coming from customers and from the external environment in general. For this reason, work processes can not be standardized and are aimed at fulfilling the prescribed tasks; – the values that are inherent in the activity itself: work in the social field is charged with ethical, affective and emotional values, and invests the values and the most profound beliefs of both operators and customers/beneficiaries. In the social field 4 Leone 5 Ivi,

and Prezza (2003, p. 15). p. 16.

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the planning activity can represent an opportunity to highlight the values, the models of reference, the theories that implicitly, and sometimes unconsciously, are used to explain some phenomena; – the multiplicity of professional figures working in this sector: social professionals are many, but often it is required the need to develop common projects among teams of different services by sector of intervention, type and function; – the collaboration of public and private actors aimed at realizing increasingly “integrated” services: in the social field projects are almost always realized thanks to the interaction, agreements and coordination of a network of public, private and private-social organizations; – almost exclusive dependence on public funding: unfortunately, in recent years, social actors operate in a context of scarcity of resources and strong bureaucratic constraints. The scarcity of funding makes the competition weaker; therefore the success of the project is guaranteed from the greater collaboration of the participants (they collaborate in a few because they are really interested in the project and not in an economic return). The social sector operators, both public and private, are becoming less motivated to designing services that are not destined to last. They want to invent innovative solutions to solve problems that can not be solved in other alternative ways, facing a context of insufficient resources destined to social policies; working for projects means achieving, with the same resources, a better service offer, more innovative and responsive to users’ needs adopting “flexibility”. Service offers should be flexible and operators should work to guarantee the highest degree of flexibility. The network organization of the services facilitates collaboration among the institutions and pushes the various professionals to find ever better solutions. The prerequisite for planning is the involvement of local actors in the preparation of the plan of interventions to be implemented. For example, we are talking about program agreements, contracts area and territorial pacts “as the main tools of negotiated planning, coordination and promotion of development that start from the bottom and are based on the planning skills of the local level: they consider coordination as decisive resource, are based on the principles of subsidiarity and partnership”.6 In this historical moment, planning seems to have a crucial role because we are facing a mutation of the welfare system—due to a multiplicity of factors—and consequently “the risk is that the system of interventions and services to the person is attributed exclusively to a welfare function, supported by scarce resources, a marginal function, of passive management of the most dramatic conditions in terms of poverty, non self-sufficiency, or severe disability, which supports and integrates work policies, but with a different logic, without any illusion about the possibility of recovering and integrating these areas of the population really”. The danger is that “in (…) this way the welfare system is built by sliding towards a dependency culture (…), since it leaves only the space for the passive management of hardships to social policies”.7 6 Siza 7 Siza

(2002). (2012, p. 2).

How the Local Welfare System in Italy Changes: From Planning …

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Working on projects makes it possible to avoid this consequence, to continue to contrast problems through concrete action. Born from a strong need for innovation and experimentation, it tends to avoid waste and aims at maximum flexibility. This is why the “network work” between services—the true plastic resource of this sector—is desired and pursued by all the actors in the system.

3 … to Co-planning The passage from planning, as it has been described so far, to co-planning simply concerns a new type of isomorphism. In chemistry, isomorphism is a phenomenon that occurs when two or more elements united by similar chemical and physical properties, crystallize in a similar structure. This means that co-planning does not represent a break with the old way of planning in the social sphere but it is an evolved form, able to adapt better, to the new welfare model that is emerging. In this renewed perspective, the Non-Profit Sector becomes the main actor in the planning of public social policies, in particular since the Nineties, when “the third sector goes from being considered a mere executor of ideas thought by others to be evaluated as a thinking subject, able to contribute to the construction of projects that must implement certain public policies. […] In these years the public enters into a dialogic approach towards the individuals of civil society, who begin to be considered as effective “privileged witnesses”, i.e. actors who can tell about the realization of social interventions as experts and witnesses, precisely, of the citizens needs”.8 The Local Authorities finally listen to all the requests coming from the socalled private-social organizations, i.e. associations, social cooperatives, voluntary work, even the Church, which have always been at the service of the most needy people. “This involvement takes place as an entity to be consulted when projecting the local plan of social policy. This is achieved through the tool of the thematic tables: places dedicated to consultation between professionals and to the collection of ideas and suggestions to be submitted to political decisions level”.9 This form of welfare state in which the Non-Profit Sector is one of the actors involved goes under the name of “welfare mix”. In the welfare mix “the production of services and social policies of collective interest are guaranteed by a variety of subjects: public administration, non-profit organizations and for-profit companies. The Non-Profit Sector is identified as a subject provided with planning and behavioral autonomy in a system that has interdependencies both with the market and with the State (as government), and as an actor of welfare policies that competes with public institutions and for-profit companies to the management and implementation of services requested by citizenship”.10 The Non-Profit Sector is called to participate actively in the process of developing welfare policies, thus breaking the separation 8 De

Ambrogio and Guidetti (2016, p. 20). Ambrogio and Guidetti, op. cit., p. 20. 10 Brunod et al. (2016, pp. 51, 52). 9 De

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wall from the properly named “public” sector. With regard to public social policies, Institutions and Non-Profit Sector are called to take responsibility for public policies; they work closely together to define the objectives and the means to achieve them. This is the fundamental principle introduced by the law number 328/2000, entitled “Framework legislation for the implementation of the integrated system of social interventions and services”. The application of Law n. 328/2000 requires a broader system of government, in which, alongside promotion and regulation, co-planning co-exists involving public, private and private-social subjects in the exercise of common responsibilities.11

The Law n. 328/2000 introduces the term co-planning without defining in detail the related administrative procedure. “Participatory planning is a method that allows networking, it is a process of creating meaning that involves equally different actors, re-motivating them on a personal and professional level, allowing them to be aware subjects”. Today this is not enough. In fact, “we do not ask only to create a network, but to create a network between public and civil society co-planning, or rather in a relationship of functional partnership to achieve social innovation”.12 The framework law, having to be a general line, a model, hopes for a greater level of interaction between public and private. “In particular with respect to the previous forms of the relationship between the public and the third sector, the co-planning is a relationship modality that places the actors in a condition of co-responsibility with relative assumption of risks. Their activity is aimed at integrating existing resources and finding and investing new ones to promote virtuous and generative paths of welfare development”.13 The Law 328/2000 promoted co-planning with the aim of encouraging the development of partnerships between public Institutions and Non-Profit Sector entities. This is the most authentic expression of horizontal subsidiarity. The Law 328/2000 interprets subsidiarity as “strengthening and redevelopment of this function [public social] through its enlargement to non-profit organizations called to participate in the planning and management of the social services system and the recruitment of related responsibilities”. Not simple outsourcing but a true sharing of the decision making process. The perspective of the “governance of collective assets” is the third way available to administrators, beyond bureaucratic and corporate models. The co-planning fits right into this inlet. The regulation of relations between the public administration and the Non-Profit Sector finds its first systematization in the Legislative Decree number 163/2006, known as the “Public Procurement Code”, then in the Legislative Decree number 50/2016, named “Code of public agreements” and the subsequent Legislative Decree number 57/2017, containing “Supplementary and corrective provisions to the Legislative Decree of April 18, 2016, No. 50”. The award procedures are essentially two: the contract and the provision of services. 11 Brunod

et al., op. cit., p. 52. Ambrogio and Guidetti, op. cit., p. 23. 13 Ivi, pp. 23, 24. 12 De

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Therefore, co-planning has been conceived and understood as to be able to preserve its two “souls”. Co-planning refers to “planning together”, to “thinking together”; thinking together to the improvement of a social situation or condition. Co-planning for “cobuilding” something better, more effective and efficient. To collaborate, to unite the forces, the experience and the knowledge to realize that local system of social network services, prescribed by the Framework Law number 328/2000. Article 5 of Law 328/2000 disciplines the role of the Non-Profit Sector, hoping its full participation during all stages of social policy planning (in accordance to articles number 18 and 19 of the same law). The participation of the Non-Profit Sector in scheduling and planning social interventions aims at full implementing the principle of subsidiarity. Article number 5 states that public bodies encourage the involvement in these activities of the subjects operating in the Non-Profit Sector “through training policies and interventions for facilitated access to credit and EU funds”. And then, in the second paragraph: “for the purpose of entrusting the services provided for by this law, public bodies, without prejudice to the provisions of article number 11, shall promote actions to foster transparency and administrative simplification, as well as the use of forms of awarding or negotiations that allow the subjects operating in the Non-Profit Sector the full expression of their own planning”. It is expected that the Non-Profit Sector should be encouraged to give full vent to its “vision” and the resort to simplified negotiation forms, which may facilitate the participation of private individuals in the integrated system of services and social interventions, is allowed. After Law No. 328/2000, the Code of Non-Profit Sector has recently been approved. It gives new impetus to the principles introduced by the aforementioned Framework Law. The second “soul” of co-planning is given by all aspects of a more technicaladministrative nature. It is true that the framework law speaks of an opening to the Non-Profit Sector and a facilitation of access to negotiation procedures, but there are no clear normative references from which we can deduce the field of use of this form of regulation of public-private relations. In the first instance, therefore, it is of fundamental importance to answer this question: what is the difference between co-planning and a public contract? The substantial difference consists in the co-participation of the partners with their own resources for the co-planning. The partners must make available additional resources with respect to public resources such as real estate, equipment/instruments, vehicles, human resources, the candidate’s ability to obtain contributions and/or fundings from non-public bodies, cost of coordination and organization of activities, care of relations with the Administration, monitoring of quality policies. The absence of this co-participation of resources

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identifies the intervention as a contract or concession of services subject to the Code of Procurement.14

A certain ambiguity emerges from the analysis of the national regulatory framework. “The scarce elements through which the new institute of the co-planning is outlined, in particular by article number 7 of the DPCM 30/03/2001, are inadequate to provide a characterization and to draw a clear legal profile on the procedural and substantive level”.15 The aforementioned Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers conceives the co-planning as the instrument intended to establish new forms of collaboration, different from those aimed exclusively at providing services. This possibility is not excluded but the specificity of the co-planning lies in realizing a public/private partnership able to make innovation. The logic that in fact guides these relationships is not the service but the project. As Paolo Rossi writes: a service constitutes an activity established by an organization as an integral part of its mandate; conversely, a project tends to be a circumscribed activity over time. Where the provision of an activity qualified as a service does not provide for time limits, the realization of a project is, by definition, linked to some form of scanning and temporal delimitation. […] The interventions provided within a project tend to focus on specific and emerging needs and problems, while in general a service intercepts the most widespread and consolidated needs and needs. In this sense, the projects offer more opportunities to experiment with innovative methodologies of intervention. The interventions that fall within the scope of a project lend themselves more to inter-organizational collaboration. In particular, projects are often the fulcrum of the activities of implementation structures that involve collaboration between organizations of a different nature (public and private, profit and non-profit).16

The project, therefore, by its nature arises from the requirement to satisfy a need that is still unheard but is limited temporally so it manages to buffer a critical situation but does not solve the root of the problem. Everything thought and written in the Framework Law number 328/2000 before, and in the aforementioned Decree then, did not find the right and expected empirical translation in the following years. We must wait until 2015, when the National Anticorruption Authority issued a proposal for guidelines for the assignment of services to Non-Profit Sector organizations and social cooperatives. The confusion on the co-planning emerges emblematically in these guidelines. First of all, as well as being cited incidentally, the practical and procedural aspects of the co-planning are traced back to the Public Procurement Code, which is far from the simplification desired by law number 328/2000. The National Anti-corruption Authority also proposes a process of public investigation divided into phases, in which the aforementioned “vision” of the Non-Profit Sector is diminished and placed in the background: the Authority is given the faculty 14 Fabiano

(2017). Documento disponibile al link: http://www.sprar.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/LA-COPROGETTAZIONE-E-IL-CODICE-DEGLI-APPALTI-spunti-di-approfondimento. pdf. Ultima consultazione in data 30.09.2017. 15 Brunod et al., op. cit., p. 159. 16 Rossi (2014, pp. 27, 28).

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to elaborate a “general project” on whose basis the partner must produce a “definitive project”, making only a few minor changes. In this way, the actual design phase is “reduced to an acknowledgment of a project already fully developed and defined in all its aspects to which only “some variations” can be made in a concerted and negotiated manner”.17 Nothing is said about the type of public law that is established between the institution and the partner. This approximation in establishing the rules of operation of an important instrument for its social and administrative value, is held responsible for the scarce and practical use of co-planning. However, this regulatory gap has allowed the creativity of the Non-Profit Sector, together with the dynamism of some public administrations, to explore some ways of collaboration that have not yet been covered. The third national regulatory reference is the National Anti-corruption Authority executive decision 2016 n. 32 with which the “Guidelines for the assignment of services to Non-Profit Sector organizations and social cooperatives” are established. The following can be read in the document: The co-planning consists of a procedural collaboration agreement that has as its object the definition of innovative and experimental projects of services, interventions and complex activities to be carried out in terms of partnership between administrations and private social and which finds its foundation in the principles of subsidiarity, transparency, participation and support of private commitment in the social function.

Moreover: “this instrument can be used to promote the implementation of the interventions envisaged in the area plans through consultation, with the Non-Profit Sector organizations, of forms and modalities of: – inclusion of the same in the integrated network of social services; – collaboration between Public Administration. and subjects of the third sector; – pooling of resources for the implementation of shared projects and objectives”. Further clues about the definition of the instrument can be found in the other cited documents. According to the dictate of the Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers and the provisions of Law 328/2000, the co-planning is certainly one of the tools for regulating relations between Public Administrations and Non-Profit Sector entities. The object concerns the organization and management of welfare services but there is no other specific features that could circumscribe the field of coplanning. The Article. 7 of the DPCM, called “Public Preliminary Investigations for the co-planning with third sector subjects”, identifies the co-planning in a regulatory form of public-private relations that goes beyond the traditional forms of awarding and outsourcing of services. The co-planning, seems aimed at establishing new and experimental forms of collaboration between public bodies and third sector subjects. In fact, the article number 7 reads as follows:

17 Brunod

et al., op. cit., pp. 161, 162.

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In order to address specific social issues, enhancing and actively involving Non-Profit Sector entities, municipalities can call public inquiries for the co-planning of innovative and experimental interventions on which Non-Profit Sector subjects express their willingness to collaborate for the realization of aims. Regions can adopt guidelines to define the procedures for calling and operating public inquiries and for identifying forms of support.

4 Conclusions Co-planning is an administrative instrument available to the Public Administration that allows the empirical translation of the principle of subsidiarity. The Non-Profit Sector is not only involved during the “preliminary” phases, in which the social programmer listens to and acknowledges the needs of the territory, but is called to intervene during the planning phase of the actual intervention and to put concrete resources and planning skills on the plate. Consequently, the co-planning can be, metaphorically imagined as the armed arm of the further evolution of the Welfare model that currently characterizes Italian society, from the Welfare Mix—of general orientation to the new Welfare Partnership. From the welfare’s transformation (or evolution) it is possible to better understand which practical instrument and how, have been used in order to translate social policies into concrete interventions and services in favor of the community and its “people”. Hence, the other aspect of co-planning, the legal one, which is just as important and central that allows to concretely achieve the objective of defining innovative and experimental projects of services, interventions and complex activities to be carried out in terms of partnership between administrations and private-social entities. It finds its foundation in the principles of subsidiarity, transparency, participation and support of private commitment in the social function. In the light of this double path that we have tried to follow, the hypothesis of an innovative and unprecedented project seems to be feasible only with the use of an instrument and an administrative procedure that is as innovative as the intervention to be implemented. The traditional forms of regulation of the relationship between public and private do not seem to satisfy the need for flexibility inherent in the process of planning shared with third sector subjects. The innovativeness referred to by the ANAC (the Italian National Anti-Corruption Autority) executive decision n. 32/2016 can not be obtained by harnessing the world of auxiliary agencies in the meshes of the bureaucracy; it is the Public Administration that must open itself to new modes of action and communication with the Non-Profit Sector in order to benefit from its dynamism and its “inventiveness”.

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References Brunod, M., Moschetti, M., Pizzardi, E.: La coprogettazione sociale. Centro Studi Erickson, Trento (2016) De Ambrogio, U., Guidetti, C.: La Coprogettazione. La partnership tra pubblico e terzo settore. Carocci Faber, Roma (2016) Fabiano, A.: La coprogettazione e il codice degli appalti nell’affidamento dei servizi sociali. Link to the document: http://www.sprar.it/wp-content/uploads/20-17/03/LA-COPROGETTAZIONEE-IL-CODICE-DEGLI-APPALTI-spunti-di-approfondimento.pdf (2017) Girotti, F.: Welfare State. Storia, modelli e critica. Carocci, Roma (1998) Leone, L., Prezza, M.: Costruire e valutare i progetti nel sociale. Manuale operativo per chi lavora su progetti in campo sanitario, sociale, educativo e culturale. Franco Angeli, Milano (2003) Rossi, P.: L’organizzazione dei servizi socioassistenziali. Istituzioni, professionisti e assetti di regolazione. Carocci Faber, Roma (2014) Siza, R.: Progettare nel sociale: regole, metodi e strumenti per una progettazione sostenibile. Franco Angeli, Milano (2002) Siza, R.: Il progressivo scivolamento delle politiche sociali verso l’assistenza. Prospettive sociali e sanitarie, n. 3 (2012) Soitu, ¸ D., Johansen, K.-J.: The space of innovation and practice on welfare, health and social care education and practice in Romania and Norway. In: Scientific Annuals of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Ia¸si (New Series) Sociology and Social Work, tom X, no. 1, pp. 5–17. Available at: https://anale.fssp.uaic.ro/index.php/asas/article/view/456 (2017)

Mediating the Social: Competences and Actions into Intervention Francesca Pia Scardigno

Abstract The paper mainly takes into account the central role of social mediation in operational terms, not intended as an attempt to solve conflicts between opposite parties, but like the genuine and effective dimension of trifocal social intervention, i.e. the type of intervention which, beyond the bidirectional elapsing gap between professionals and customers, is able to integrate roles, strategic functions and actions by involving simultaneous multidimensional actors (individuals, communities, institutions), which interact in the proximal, relational and social area surrounding the professional and the customer at a specific local context. Trifocality, both in its ethical settings and in its practical manifestations, represents a challenge for the Social Work from a professional and relational point of view, since any suggestion of social intervention must necessarily include and represent the strategic role of social action with situational support of social mediator, who can quite rightly be seen as the dynamic intersection of the organizational processes and the pivot pin of the interrelationships of professional help and social intervention process. In this kind of setting, the professional should try to highlight the centrality and importance of the person in a given situation or context, building up a helping relationship which is: reflexive, promotional, collaborative, devoted to the construction of a project arising from mediation between vision of the situation as narrated by the customer and other stakeholders as well, and vision elaborated about the situation by the professional, according to his own knowledge. Starting from such a negotiation, it should be possible to get a series of assumptions useful to being engaged for the construction of a shared vision of the situation of difficulty leading to evaluation of possible solutions and tasks for their implementation, in order to achieve and solve the issue. Above all, it must be able to learn how to mediate different views of reality that each party claims, knowing how to use the appropriate language, focusing on possible solutions (although temporary), to give a glimpse of and support with convincing arguments,

F. P. Scardigno (B) G. D’Annunzio, University of Chieti-Pescara, Via Dei Vestini, 39–66100 Chieti, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_10

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also in economic terms, yet not limited to a simple analysis of the problems. This should consist of its role of society manager. Keywords Mediation · Social work · Intervention

1 Introduction The intent of the following work is to highlight how social mediation can be an operative tool not only in the resolution of a conflict to achieve a convergence between opposing parties, but how such an instrument can play a decisive and strategic role in the trifocal dimension of social intervention (Dal Pra Ponticelli 2010). By “three-focal dimension” of social intervention we mean the intervention exceeding the bidirectional dimension that is synthesized in the standard help relationship between professionals and customers, and integrates roles and strategic actions through the involvement of multidimensional actors (individuals, communities, institutions), which surrounds the professional and the customer in a specific territorial context. The aim of mediation is to lead the parties towards the achievement of a meeting point or a solution of common acceptance through the help of a third party: the mediator, who works between the parties in conflict to help them improve communication between themselves through the analysis of the distance that divides them, with the aim of allowing the subjects to identify and choose themselves an option that, by composing the conflict situation, realizes the interests and needs of everyone. Within this general definition of the objective, mediation acquires characters and develops according to the procedures that vary, depending on the area of intervention towards the mediation activity is directed. In this sense, different sectors and types of intervention can be distinguished: civil, cultural, didactic, family, linguistic, organizational, penal, and social. It is the most promising set of methods for resolving conflicts in a cooperative manner. In various forms, social mediation practices are promoted in response to social disorganization, with the aim of reconstructing a new form of social cohesion. Social mediation, understood as a method of resolution and alternative management of conflicts, of social regulation and of peaceful recomposition of human relations, is characterized differently in the different countries in which it has been realized, its effectiveness is based on the reorganization of the conflict scene and develops in an area recognized as independent by the different actors, in presence of a neutral third—the mediator—accompanying them along a set of rules shared by all participants (Bramanti 2005; Soitu ¸ 2010). According to Bramanti, this form of conflict resolution is particularly effective between subjects who maintain long-lasting relationships over time and who, in any case, should continue to relate, after the eventual resolution of the conflict, to whatever solution that has been adopted.

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2 Evolutions and Development in the Social Work Over time, we have witnessed an evolution in welfare policies, which initially depended and responded only to the needs of the political spheres. Nowadays we can observe a governance about social policy, whose decisions are the result of a regulated action, negotiated between a plurality of public and private actors in these negotiation processes; thus, there’s room for mediation actions. Trying to temporize the evolution of the science of social services, we can say that before the Sixties, the satisfaction of poor’s needs was entrusted to the voluntary and charitable attitude of people and of religious bodies that took care of the needy. In that phase, the contribution of the social professional was above all to make sure that the need would obtain the correct support. The professional’s role was mainly about control and assessment of the economic, familiar, and physical situation behind subsidies’ grant. The professional role of social services was therefore marginal. From a scientific point of view, social work was not considered a science, because of its lack of scientific basis, devoid of empirical evidence, at a time when empirical research was beginning to be exploited through statistical data and quantitative methods in social sciences. This is why social work is not a discipline: it did not respond to the canons of positivism. Subsequently, starting from the second half of the twentieth century, positivism was deeply criticized, especially in the social field, and there was a growing interest in phenomenology, affirming that there may be different cognitive modalities all with equal scientific dignity; there is an experiential knowledge, a practical knowledge through which one can understand social reality. It becomes increasingly clear that in the professional practice different types of knowledge can be taken into consideration, from experiential to scientific, personal or professional. Several scholars agree on the epistemological and cognitive characteristics of social work: • social work is a discipline in the making, always in potency, because it deals with complex and multidimensional social and existential problems in continuous change; • it is tridimensional and multifocal, therefore it draws on many other sociological, psychological, juridical and anthropological disciplines, which are also in endless evolution, and obtain a continuous comparison with many objects of analysis and intervention. • it is a synthesis because it must be able to integrate the theoretical paradigms of the different sciences, it is also a practical theoretical because it must be able to translate the hypotheses of the theory into practical actions, always in an interactive and relational way. Starting from these reflections, we can say that in social work, the goal is to describe and understand, together with the interlocutors, the meaning to being attributed to specific events or complex and dynamic situations that evolve and change over time, understanding in order to modify.

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Nowadays, the professional practice presupposes a professional able to know how to deepen and build hypothesis and operational hypotheses together with interlocutors; a professional able to take as a goal the finding of strategies, methods and resources to prevent, face and solve situations of existential difficulties, both material and relational; a professional assuming the task of elaborating with the customer an integrated view of the situation and co-constructing with him any possible solutions, both personal and temporary. Another interesting approach to model interpersonal relations and relations in the group can be found in the works of Hoskova-Mayerova and Maturo (2016, 2018a, b, c).

3 From the Bidirectional to the Trifocal Dimension From a regulatory perspective, in the Italian welfare a turning point for the social work started from the introduction of the 328/2000 Act, “Framework Law for the Implementation of the Integrated System of Interventions and Social services”, which has redefined the role of social policies, bringing a whole range of novelties. This law is placed after a long legislative silence, during which no organic regulation of social welfare services took place. First of all, 328 Act marked the change from the customer’s conception as a bearer of a specialized need to that of a real and complex person, constituted both by his resources and family and his territorial context. The change from a traditional sense of assistance is decreed, as a place of realization of merely reparative interventions of discomfort, to an active social protection, a place of removal of the causes of discomfort, and above all, as a place of prevention and promotion of the person through the enhancement of his capabilities. The 328 Act also attributes a greater role to the institution closer to citizens, such as the municipality; consequently, the perspectives of intervention of the social professional change, which before had simply to deal with checking and verifying that all the criteria required by the State were met to obtain certain grants, now the password of the professional is to work in the network on the territory. Today, we talk about new perspectives of social work and in particular community welfare, not only meaning territorial community, paying due attention to the European community, but above all the negotiational and relational aspects. Moreover, the social work begins to attribute greater importance not only to the knowledge of facts and situations, but even to the understanding of the meanings that the same people attribute to a given situation or an event (De Shazer 1985; Epston et al. 1992). For such reasons, social workers today must be able to manage this complexity on several levels. The qualifying element of the profession of social worker is the ability to grasp the new social problems and the social policy guidelines that seem best to face them through the institutionalization, organization and management of adequate social services. Social work is a profession in endless evolution, in perpetual change (Dal Pra Ponticelli 2010, p. 7). Moreover, social work is over time laying

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its theoretical foundations on a wide range of disciplines referred to social sciences, with a special focusing on individual and social contexts of relationship (Dal Pra Ponticelli 2010, p. 68). Is interesting to understand the relationship: “(…) between the person’s ability to act and the social and cultural structures within which he/she is inserted and their influence on the person’s possibilities to realize their aspirations, to reach their goals, to carry out its actions in a given, pre-existing, external context, has been deepened by the various social sciences from different perspectives: on the one hand, determinism on the other, interactionism” (Dal Pra Ponticelli 2010, p. 68). Many are the theoretical references in particular we refer to the relational sociology of Donati (1994) an expert Italian scholar of relationship sociology. According to this scholar, relationships takes a central position, as it is underlying the identity of the person and the establishment of institutions and social systems too. The person is ontologically in relationship, realized through the link that constitute a “donation of sense from the subjects mutually involved” and can not “exist without relations with the others”, because the relationships are the “constitutive of his being a person”. In the social sciences, the subject of action is not observable, comprehensible and explicable in itself and for itself but only through social relations (Dal Pra Ponticelli 2010, p. 71). The relational perspective, individualism overcomes collectivism and reiterates the centrality of the relationship between people, because the connection partly depends upon each other of interlocutuors, yet represents a third reality, a perceived reality through a reflexivity process. By the Author, social relationship is a multidimensional, interactive and dialogical reality, influenced by culture, values and interlocutors personality, and at the same by the context in which they are located, sense-making, intentionality, giving attention to what is observable and listened to (Dal Pra Ponticelli 2010, p. 71). The social professional must build a helping relationship that is: • reflexive (from the Latin verb reflectere, that is to turn backwards, to turn back on itself, that cognitive process through which the person traces with his mind what he thought, said or done) Faced with situations of difficulty, uncertainty, complexity, the person tries to retrace with thought the path he has made or is doing to make it clearer and to look for solutions, • promotional • collaborative • aimed at the construction of a project that is the synthesis of a shared vision. From this negotiation should emerge a series of hypotheses able to be used for the construction of a shared vision of the situation of difficulty that leads to the identification of possible solutions and tasks to be implemented to achieve the proposed solutions? Above all, it must be able to mediate the different visions of reality that each interlocutor supports, in a network working model, with collaborators and professionals who are present on the same territory, knowing how to use the right language, focusing on possible solutions (even if temporary) to glimpse and support with convincing arguments, also on the economic level and not simply the analysis

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of problems. This should consist of the role of a social manager. Relational skills at the individual and group level, negotiation and mediation skills between different types of interlocutors and needs, and finally design management and administrative skills are equally important. The task of governing planning requires the ability to facilitate communication and decision making that takes into account a complex and representative framework of diversified interests. The social professional must never put his own goals and will before him, but it is always a work of construction and participation. Social intervention must be considered in three dimensions: • People/families user–talk about which professional activities, have been implemented with the person • Institutions/service–analyze how the service has been activated to respond to this person’s need • Community/Context territory–the networks that the person has within his territory, where he lives, what is the district, the groups within his area, the culture with its own codes, symbols and meanings. From an operational point of view, trying to translate what we just wrote until now in operative terms of the social work, we can safely say that: In the welfare system, the social work represents both roles of aid and control, is aimed to provide welfare services of different kinds, and as well to give help and support to people while they are seeking for a better life quality, facing both internal and external obstacles that could take it worse. In such a situation, the social worker has a institutional function and a specific mandate given him by his role and the trifocality of intervention; thus, he must interact with individuals and families and at the same time at a institutional level, to carry out organizational activities in the local communities and networks (Dal Pra Ponticelli 2010, p. 91). Trifocality aims at the construction of a help project that integrates the interventions on the educational-therapeutic plan with the customer and its context with planning, organizational and management activities, to make the services and foreseen interventions able to be used by the institutions of public and private welfare. We spoke about tridimensionality and trifocality, that is, the centrality of the person that is accessible only if helped to relocate in its community context, which is also made up of people and without which it would not be possible to build identity. The role of relational guide, typical of the social worker, translates into a triadic role. Social workers become social builders, because they can make co-architects sharing spaces both for the experiences of hardship and for the search for ease. The social workers must assume the competence to know how to: listen, understand, welcome, share, accompany people, groups and communities by returning a social dimension through the relational process and the mediation process, but also evaluate the results achieved, through a continuity in which one can see along time within potentialities solicited in the person. Returning again to Folgheraiter’s theory, we must point out that social work is a way of looking at problems without the pathology filter, which does not mean that very often, social discomfort cannot underlie an illness or a deficit, but rather that

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social worker must concentrate, not on that particular aspect, but on the global social aspect. The action of assistance is realized through a conceptual transformation: the professional must consider the individuals inserted in a defined context in which he interacts and creates actions. In a network’s operational way: • A connection action between the different actors/institutions involved in the aid • Action to support existing networks • An action to extend the network, aimed at the activation of new potential subjects (Lazzari 2008, p. 57) The network model arises in opposition to the positivistic medical model, where problems are solved through rational planning. In the network model, it is observed that the supporting concept in the aid process is action and not disease; the subjects do not act in isolation, but are in interaction with other subjects to achieve common or shared goals; it refers to the relational theory from the theoretical and rational point of view. From these concepts, we get the principle of the social network analysis. Mediation is the most promising set of methods for resolving conflicts in a cooperative manner (Vraneski 2006): • Multi-dimensional • Intercultural • Interdisciplinary From a methodological perspective, in networks we have the intentional action of one or more operators that is carried out in a relationship with a network of people, thus improving the reciprocal quality and mutual ability of action of both the expert and that of the network.

4 Patterns of Mediation Contemporary society produces situations that are difficult to manage, for which new and flexible tools are needed, in its complexity not only about disintegration and fragmentation, but also the desire for social bonding and relations. Mediation is a practice that tends to promote citizenship through the construction and regeneration of social bonds. Mediation is linked to different disciplines and is a valuable tool in many different fields; this means that those who define themselves as mediators often work in different fields and have the most varied backgrounds. For such a reason, the mediators in their positions, often adopt theoretical approaches very different from each other. The multiple approaches to mediation are compared and referred to a different way of thinking about the subject, its networks and its dynamics of belonging, the role and functions of the mediator (Bramanti 2005). Some of these theoretical approaches have developed as a result of the training carried out to become mediators, while others come from the professional training,

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from their work field, from the values to which they adhere or from the relationships they have or are the result of the combination of all these influences (Luison 2006, p. 31). The context and the structure in which the actions of the subjects took place are very important. Baruch, Busch, in The Promise of Mediation (1994), established that one could distinguish two primary models of practice existing at the same time: one aimed at problem solving and one aimed at transformation. According to the model addressed to problem solving, conflict represents a problem to be solved for the incompatibility of the parties’ needs and interests. The goal of the mediator is to generate an agreement that solves realistic problems in real terms. In this model, there is a relevant importance of the capacity for initiative and direction of the mediator. A good practice of mediation is based on the identification of the problem, the creation of options and an effective ability to persuade the needy to resolve the conflict. For the model aimed at transformation, conflict is above all a crisis in human interaction. So, Lucio Luison points out: The transformative model assumes that, despite the natural destabilizing impact caused by the conflict, people have the ability to “recover a sense of strength and self-confidence” (empowerment shift = recovery or moving towards empowerment) and of “openness and responsibility” (reco-gnition shift = recovery of, or shift towards, recognition of the other person. (Luison 2006, p. 42)

Transformative mediation measures its success by moving the parties towards a more solid, responsible and constructive interaction. In doing so, the parties will positively change their mutual interactions and, as a result, will find acceptable terms to resolve the conflict. Furthermore, the parties may voluntarily choose to leave the mediation satisfied and without an agreement or to bring the conflict to a new location, such as in court. Every point of view on conflict is based on and reflects the values and assumptions of a particular ideology. Below we summarize the main models of mediation. They are:

4.1 The Collaborative Model Oriented to the Collaborative Solution From the contribution of Fisher Roger and Ury William the Harvard school proposes mediation as a form of integrative or collaborative negotiation. The central focus of this vision can be traced back to a mercantile perspective that thinks of mediation as a non-directive form of exchange between the parties. The relations between the subjects are essentially regulated by mercantile codes according to the scheme of reciprocal concessions of equivalents and so the mediation is thought of as a useful tool to allow a substantial equality between the parties, especially in relation to the themes of power and rights. The goal is to restore a minimum or, at least acceptable, level of equity in situations where the conflict is above all perceived as an unjust distribution of resources or an unjust access to them (Bramanti 2005).

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4.2 The Socio-clinical Model According to this model elaborated by Robinette and Harris (2000) mediation is configured as a professional practice that aims to treat interpersonal conflict as the emergence of an uneasiness that must be removed. According to this model, conflict is a settlement of the change and the flexibility of social systems with a scope that is as destructive as it is constructive of a new stability. The clinical sociologist must diagnose the destructive as well as constructive consequences for the subjects involved in the conflict. Following the diagnosis, he must intervene with a treatment plan for the conflicting relationships that bring about destructiveness, discomfort, problems, through structured paths of guided mediation that reconfigure the relationships between people, to open up constructive, positive and liberating forms of relationships. The mediator is not a therapist of emotions, nor does he design the change of people, nor aims at the resolution of the conflict alone, but at the improvement of the situation that involves the actors.

4.3 The Systemic Model Mediation according to the systemic model is a decidedly environment-friendly approach, affirming that, if it is true that men come into conflict with their ideologies, religions, cultures, systems of thought, and equally true that the clash is realized in a territory, in a community of life, of the neighborhood or quantum other; so the model is proposed as a way of observing the conflict in its daily phenomenology (Bramanti 2005). This conflict creates in the primary and secondary groups, from the family to the community, a blocked and destructive system of relational behaviors, dependent on the dysfunctions of social systems that represent the context. The solution to the conflict consists in removing systemic dysfunctions and personal uneasiness by reopening the constructive and evolutionary connections with the context of all the systems and subjects involved in the conflict. The intervention of mediation must aim at changing conflictual dynamics by identifying the rules of their systemic play and influencing dysfunctions to reactivate interactions, feedbacks and systemic circulations functional to the reactive and adaptive needs of the environment and the real well-being of individuals (Luhmann 1990). Man and society are considered self-organizing systems, conditioned but not determined by the environment, aimed at maintaining their autopoietic integrity. If conflict arises from contradictions in relational activities, mediation uses communication that dissolves contradictions to restore the recursive cybernetic relationships of autopoietic integrity. The agreement is determined by a negotiated and shared construction of meanings. Constraints, interests, needs in conflict are real but the mind shapes, interprets, decides, organizes the problem and its solution in the social environ-

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ment. Since self-organizing systems are not determined by the environment, causal and linear mediation interventions cannot be used from the outside but indirect and complex participatory interventions that are inserted in the system’s own disorder to transform it into order. Among the techniques of the systemic model particular attention is given to the qualitative aspects of the relationship that the mediator facilitates with the parties: empathy, listening, proxemics, reliability, equivicinity, motivation, mimicry, approval, availability, comprehension, acceptance, self-reflexive and hetero-reflective emotionality (Sciarra 2009a, b).

4.4 The Humanistic/Transformative Model The humanistic/transformative model of mediation is characterized by being strongly connoted in terms of moral commitment. This approach focuses on the idea of changing participants by encouraging their ability to emancipate themselves and to recognize themselves as common room bearers. In this perspective, the conflict and its resolution is less important than the possibility of introducing a change in the attitude between the parties who are responsible for results that can be achieved, and the mediator is a facilitator who strongly believes in the possibility that the subjects involved develop their mediation process. The parties gain strength from the process of self-awareness and self-determination in the mediation session overcoming suspicion and mistrust by coming to the recognition of the other. The goal of mediation is not so much the agreement but the development of the potential for change of people when they realize their abilities. Emphasis and focus on the client, the practice of a guided dialogue that is based on the long tradition of counseling that is particularly important in social work (Bramanti 2005).

4.5 Interactive Mediation Interactive mediation could contain multiple styles of mediation and other related components, related to temporal, cultural and specific constraints of each case, together with the ability to modify these components through a mediation process depending on the circumstances allowed. The interactive mediation proposed by the scholar Lucio Luison foresees the inclusion of components coming from different mediation styles in order to respond efficiently to the case and to the needs of the specific context of setting the profit. The model developed by the author is based on the belief that the different approaches of mediation are not mutually exclusive but that on the contrary, they could strengthen one another in a synergistic way, in fact integrates concepts and elements from various styles of mediation that the author himself he has studied and adapted them to his personal characteristics (Luison 2006).

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4.6 Socio-cultural Approach Among the approaches and models displayed, the approach that is most useful for the purposes of our work is the socio-cultural approach developed by the scholar Ezio Sciarra. This approach provides a further contribution to some of the recently exposed models, in particular it shares with each model some aspects, enhancing therefore its potential. By the socio-cultural approach, the mediator plays in the middle of interpersonal conflict processes with a professional practice to resolve the relational discomfort as a facilitator of the situation of reconciliation of disputes. The mediation process can therefore be seen as a sociological practice, because it concerns the orientation of relationships (Sciarra 2009a, p. 89). The intent of this model is the resolution of a relational discomfort, while safeguarding the individual autonomy of people, for this reason it can be applied in various spheres from family disputes to controversies of an institutional nature, since the intent is to transmit the malaise of social relationships in relational well-being. The socio-cultural model consists of three phases, a first constituent phase, a second divergent phase and a final convergent type phase. Each one is divided into docic sequences, regulated by a prevalent socio-cultural approach.

4.7 Constituent Phase In this first phase the mediator asks separately, to the single parts to clarify the terms of the conflict that emerged between them. The protocol phase has a constituent nature precisely because it constitutes at the enunciative level the delineation of the conflict-problem and of all the cognitive terms necessary to face it. It is divided into four sequences in which each part, which does not yet communicate with the other, requires the mediator to ask for information, cognitive elements, statements, analytical and systematic narratives, respectively: 1. 2. 3. 4.

knowledge of events that have triggered the conflict; knowledge of rights claimed by individuals in the conflict; knowledge of constraints of pretension advanced by the actors; knowledge of the possibility of tolerances of the parties (Sciarra 2009b, p. 10).

These dimensions are explored for the purpose of the constituent and preparatory framework for a non-judicial and consensual resolution of the conflict. In this way, the constituent phase involves the processes of four sequences, related to the reconstruction of facts, rights, claims, tolerances of the subjects involved in the conflict, as they are narrated by the individual actors in their solicited assertives solicited, requested, facilitated from the mediator (Sciarra 2009b, p. 10).

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4.8 Divergent Phase While the first phase is an assertive orientation to gather information and narratives from the parties on the terms of the conflict, the divergent phase is normative in that it prescribes to the parties, solicited by the mediator, to provide more interpretative variations on the facts, rights, claims, tolerances of the conflict in order to highlight divergent theoretical hypotheses and related interpretative connections. At this stage brainstorming is used to raise possible hypotheses for resolving the conflict between the parties. It consists of four sequences in which the mediator still interacts with the parts separately but begins to compare them indirectly through his interview, to direct them to possible common elements among their interpretations in order to elaborate: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Interpetative variants of events in the conflict; variants of interpretation of rights claimed in the conflict; interpretative variants of constraints of claims in the conflict; interpretative variants of the possibility of tolerance in the conflict (Sciarra 2009b, p. 11).

These are variants through which to bring out new points of view, alternative hypotheses, divergent and flexible versions with respect to the opposing rigidity of the statements provided in the first phase.

4.9 Convergent Phase This third and final phase is called convergent precisely because it directs all the processes of the previous phases of mediation converge towards an agreement to resolve the conflict, on a basis no longer just enunciative or normative, but mainly pragmatic and empirical to find an agreement on facts, rights, pretensions, tolerances. The mediator, with a direct relationship between the parties, stimulates them with empirical strategies of reciprocal involvement for the resolution of the conflict, applying some operational techniques that define four socio-cultural practices concerning facts, rights, claims, tolerances: 1. 2. 3. 4.

interpenetration of reciprocal points of view; intersection of the interpretative versions; negotiation with direct negotiation on collaborative criteria; fair consensual agreement according to the principles of custom formalized by the mediator (Sciarra 2009b, p. 12).

The whole process ends with the formalization in writing by the mediator with the controlled consent of the parties, who place their signatures sealed by that of the mediator who guarantees fairness in the mutual satisfaction of conflict resolution and the future coherence and stability Agreement.

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5 Conclusions Social complexity and emerging needs have led more and more social work professionals to adapt their training, knowledge and skills to a much broader vision of social actions. The bidirectional approach is completely outdated, in which one tries to act only on the need of the individual user. Current welfare policies require to implement collaborative intervention strategies between the different actors on the territory, both institutional and private. This way of operating is constructive, by the constructional vision of social work, along with a “solution centered approach” whose aim is not to investigate problems causes or diagnosing people’s issues, but rather to build a range of chances of solutions and strategies to face the difficult situation (Dal Pra Ponticelli 2010, p. 89). In this social work setting, the importance of acquiring specific mediation skills as “modus operandi” has emerged between the user and all the other interlocutors with whom one must interact in order to find an effective intervention strategy, through negotiation, with the actors identified in the intervention project. With the term social manager we refer to a professional who must build an intervention project on and with the customer. The action of assistance is realized through a conceptual transformation, in particular it must use negotiating skills and then mediating abilities to activate the resources in the territory where the customer/citizen is living, creating actions and interacting with. The same social welfare policies require ever more collaborative and partnership actions on the territory, between public and private institutions. For this reason, social workers, today are faced with intervention projects that necessarily include collaborative actions, these actions need a mediation capacity because the interests of the various stakeholders in the area, do not always coincide. In light of what emerged, we can state that mediation assumes strategic importance in three points: the social worker, in network, who must mediate and negotiate intervention actions with respect to the needs of the (1) individual, with respect to the (2) community, and the (3) institutions, always respecting the centrality of the person in need of intervention.

References Bramanti, D.: Nuovi processi di mediazione di comunità, in Politiche sociali e servizi III(2) (2001) Bramanti, D.: Sociologia della mediazione. Franco Angeli, Milano (2005) Bruschi, A.: L’intervento sociale. Dalla progettazione alla realizzazione, Roma (2007) Bush, R.A.B.: The promise of mediation: responding to conflict through empowerment and recognition. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco (1994) Dal Pra Ponticelli, M.: Nuove prospettive per il servizio sociale. Carocci Faber, Roma (2010) De Shazer, S.: Key to Solutions in Brief Therapy. Norton, New York (1985) Donati, P.: Teoria relazionale della società. Franco Angeli, Milan (1994) Epston, D., White, M., Murray, K.: A Proposal for a Re-authoring Therapy: Rose’s Revisioning of her Life and Therapy as Social Construction, vol. 10 (1992)

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Foscher, I., Ury, W.: L’arte del negoziato. Mondadori, Milano (1995) Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Maturo, A.: Fuzzy sets and algebraic hyperoperations to model interpersonal relations. In: Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol. 66, pp. 211–223. Springer, Heidelberg (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40585-8_19 Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Maturo, A.: Algebraic hyperstructures and social relations. Ital. J. Pure Appl. Math. 39, 701–709 (2018a) Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Maturo, A.: Decision-making process using hyperstructures and fuzzy structures in social sciences. In: Collan, M., Kacprzyk, J. (eds.) Soft Computing Applications for Group Decision-Making and Consensus Modeling. Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing, vol. 357 (2018b). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60207-3_7 Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Maturo, A.: On some applications of fuzzy sets for the management of teaching and relationships in schools. Stud. Syst. Decis. Control 179, 343–353 (2018b). https:// doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00084-4_19 Lazzari, F.: Servizio sociale trifocale Le azioni e gli attori delle nuove politiche sociali. Franco Angeli, Milano (2008) Liaci, S.: Situazione e sviluppi della mediazione in Italia. In: Luison, L., Liaci, (eds.) Mediazione e sociologia. Franco Angeli, Milano (2000) Luhmann, N.: Sistemi sociali. Fondamenti di una teoria generale, Bologna (1990) Luison, L.: La mediazione come stumento di intervento sociale. Problemi e prospettive interazionali. Franco Angeli, Milano (2006) Robinette, D.P., Harris, R.A.: Un modello di risoluzione del conflitto fondato sulla pratica sociologica. In: Luison, L. (a cura di) Mediazione sociale e sociologica. Franco Angeli, Milano (2000) Sciarra, E.: Modelli di mediazione a confronto. Ratio Sociol. 2(2), 89–94 (2009a) Sciarra, E.: Processi e protocolli per la mediazione. Ratio Sociol. 2, 3–20 (2009b) Soitu, ¸ D.: Disputes’ mediation and social services. Sci. Ann. Alexandru Ioan Cuza Univ. Ia¸si (New Ser.) Sociol. Soc. Work 3, 122–136 (2010). https://anale.fssp.uaic.ro/index.php/asas/article/view/ 194 Vraneski, A.: The introduction of mediation in Israel: difficulties, challenges and prospects. In: Mediation as a Tool for Social Intervention: Perspectives, Challenges and Practical Aspects in Different Societies (2006)

Part II

Educations and Teaching Issues

Trends in Health Education Training for Primary Teachers in Spain. Student Proposals for Change Vicente Llorent-Bedmar, Verónica Cobano-Delgado and Mercedes Llorent-Vaquero

Abstract Childhood is a key period in the promotion of healthy lifestyles. In this regard, educational plans in Spain have incorporated Health Education into the Primary Education curriculum. We intend to analyze the opinion of Primary Education students in public universities in Andalusia on their basic training in Health Education. We use a quantitative methodology, based on a descriptive method and a survey using questionnaires for data collection. The survey sample consisted of 499 students. In conclusion, Health Education in schools is widely felt to be insufficient and should be given more importance in primary teacher training. Consequently, we propose the incorporation of Health Education into schools’ educational projects, coherently including it in the curricula and lesson plans of primary schools. Keywords Health promotion · Medical education · Childcare · School · Teachers

1 Introduction Schools indubitably play a key role in the promotion of issues relating to socially legitimated attitudes and values. Environmental education, gender equality, crossculturality and drug addiction have therefore been transversally incorporated into primary education curricula. In this respect, school attempts to cover the social demand for the prevention and treatment of emerging social problems. Health education, for instance has increasing social importance in view of health problems such as the alarming rise in obesity (Rodrigo et al. 2014). Many of these health problems V. Llorent-Bedmar · V. Cobano-Delgado (B) · M. Llorent-Vaquero University of Seville, C/Pirotecnia S/N, 41013 Seville, Spain e-mail: [email protected] V. Llorent-Bedmar e-mail: [email protected] M. Llorent-Vaquero e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_11

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are often the result of unhealthy and sedentary lifestyles, especially among young people. Given this situation, the necessary relationship between education and health must be recognized (Tesler et al. 2016). Health education has been seen to encourage students’ knowledge of basic notions of health and the development of healthy attitudes, habits and lifestyles (Casero 2008). So much so that since 2006 the World Health Organization (WHO) has been promoting a health education strategy whose main guidelines are the improvement of nutrition education and the increase of physical activity among the population. Following this, health and education professionals are vital to this process (Rodrigo et al. 2014; Svarcova et al. 2016; Hoskova-Mayerova 2016). Childhood is a key stage in the promotion of healthy lifestyles, as it is then that dietary habits, attitudes to care and health, maturing tastes, etc.… are all formed. It is therefore considered one of the optimum periods for developing diet and nutrition education (Drapeau et al. 2016; González 2014). School and family are thus established as key factors in development and learning, and their actions determine children’s future healthy habits and lifestyles. The benefits of using school-based healthy life programs in schools are numerous (Skar et al. 2015), therefore, the advisability of integrating health education among the aims of the educational system should be recognized (Sanz-Arazuri et al. 2013). In this regard, the aim of health education in primary schools should be to increase wellbeing and reduce health risks, focusing on the main objectives of health promotion based on an improved balance of physical, mental and social aspects of healthy lifestyles, as well as preventing any illnesses that might arise in this context (Jourdan et al. 2012; Nobiling and Lyde 2015).

2 Theory 2.1 Health Education in Curricula Health Education is included in the educational curriculum of the first stages of Preschool and Primary Education, where the teachers are viewed as agents promoting this education. However, an analysis of the present situation shows the decrease of this perspective, and it is possible to observe a deceleration in health promotion in schools. Few schools are members of the European Network of Health Promoting Schools (Davó et al. 2008). Although in primary education compulsory health education is not an independent subject, the contents are incorporated transversally through the study of natural, social and cultural surroundings; physical education and civic education (Monsalve et al. 2013). As regards the attention paid to health education in the curriculum in Spanish education legislation, nutrition is observed to have traditionally been considered a

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subject of study in all educational laws from the 20th century on, most notably the Spanish Law on the General Organization of the Education System (LOGSE), which was the first to integrate the prevention of illness and health promotion in schools. This introduction brought about the transversal teaching of Health Education. Themes relating to health education in primary education focus on the encouragement of healthy lifestyles and its positive effect on the quality of living (González 2014). With the implementation of the Organic Law on Education (LOE 2006), the integration of health promotion and healthy lifestyles were formalized within the curriculum, setting a specific goal as regards “valuing health and hygiene, accepting their own bodies and those of others, respecting differences and using physical education and sports as a means of favouring personal and social development” (LOE 2006, p. 11). In addition, from an analysis of the current curricula for university degrees in primary education at Spanish universities it can be seen that the structures are not unified, resulting in different approaches in teacher training for health education. The greatest difference is found in the number of subjects covering health education, which some universities have included in the form of the subject of Health Education, while others examine the different contents, developing them specifically.

2.2 Health Education in Spain: Current Situation Although great attention has been paid to matters relating to health education in the curricula both of university teacher training and primary education, numerous studies show the factors which hinder proper training in health education within primary education. In general terms, some of the main obstacles encountered in the integration of health education in primary schools are internal tensions in school organization, teachers’ lack of training in the subject and overloaded curricula (González 2014). Among the specific difficulties faced by teachers it is worth noting the lack of recognition of their work, lack of resources, non-existent support from institutions and families, the curricular pressure of educational programs and their limited training (González 2014). Numerous studies point out the deficiencies in health education within teacher training, which limits the teachers’ actions, preventing them from fully developing the protocols designed to safeguard the wellbeing of students (Sanz-Arazuri et al. 2013; Rodríguez et al. 2010). Finally, it should be highlighted that in Spain a wide range of health education content is taught in primary school, but teachers and the situation of students are not fully taken into account (Monsalve et al. 2013). In contrast with the above, several factors facilitate the integration of health education in primary schools. In this respect the main facilitators are the independence of teaching staff, the cooperative environment and support for health education, the attitude of the school board to health education, the cooperation of families and

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communities, as well as students’ own interest in health education (Cholevas and Loucaides 2011). The research questions which prompted the proposal for this study were: What importance do future primary school teachers attach to childhood health? What is their training in this subject? To answer these questions we aim to acquire an overall knowledge of the training of fourth-year students of the Degree in Primary Education (prevention, promotion of healthy habits and guidelines for action in the event of accident), and adopt measures to improve their training and raise awareness of the situation within the educational community. Our ultimate goal is the promotion of basic notions of child medicine, as pupils spend a large part of their time in school.

3 Analyses of Results 3.1 Methodology A quantitative methodology was used for this study, based on descriptive methods and surveys. It studied students in the fourth year of the Degree in Primary Education taught in the Faculties of Education Sciences of the eight public universities in Andalusia. In the academic year 2013–14 there was a total of 2951 students in their final year (Almeria: 275, Cadiz: 170, Córdoba: 247, Granada: 729, Huelva: 314, Jaén: 255, Malaga: 417, Seville: 544). To ensure that students in the survey had almost finished their training, the population researched was limited to students in the final year of the degree, fourth year, and questionnaires were handed out in mid 2014. The present study uses a formula to calculate finite population ratio (see below), establishing a level of trust of 95% (significance level = 0.05) and a margin of error for the sample (sample error = e) of 0.04 (Albert 2007). p.q = 0.25 was considered in order to ensure that the size of the sample (n) was generally representative, where p is the proportion of the population which presents a study variable and q its complement, q = 1 − p. Sample formula n=

Z α2 · p · q · N e2 (N − 1) + Z α2 · p · q

N = 2951, population size. Z1−α/2 = 1.96, value of normal type distribution given the level of trust demanded (95%). p.q = 0.25, product of the proportions, where q = 1 − p. e = 0.04, sample error. This provided the result for the sample, n = 499 students.

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Tool reliability was measured by assessing internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, based on the average correlation between all the test items 17. The result oscillates between zero and one, with the value closest to one indicating the relationship of the items (Padilla 2002) and providing a reliable measure of the subject studied. In this case the value was 0.85. The constructs of the questionnaire drawn up were validated using exploratory factor analysis. The correlations for each item were verified in order to establish the group of indicators, subsequently defining the construct predicted by the theory and eliminating variables with no correlation. For this we carried out a pilot trial with 60 final year students from the Degree in Primary Education of the Faculty of Education Sciences of the University of Seville, analyzing the data collected using the SPSS 18.0 statistical program. Table 1 presents the general aspects considered essential to carrying out an exploration of the respective indicators.

Table 1 Dimensions and indicators Dimensions

Indicators

Characteristics of subject interviewed

– Gender – Age – University

Aspects involved in children’s development

– – – – – –

The importance of having basic knowledge of the child’s medical development for future primary teachers

– Prevention – Health education aimed at promoting healthy habits and lifestyles – Guidelines for immediate action in event of accident

Training received as a teacher within the curriculum or independently

– Prevention – Health education aimed at promoting healthy habits and lifestyles – Guidelines for immediate action in event of accident

Assessments and improvements in the professional training of the primary education teacher

– Most important aspects in professional training – Need to introduce knowledge of pediatric medicine into official curricula

Healthy diet Accident prevention Vaccination calendar Sleep disorders Hygiene: postural, visual, corporal Physical activity

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3.2 Results The sample was made up of 56.5% female students and 43.5% male students, and 75.4% of the total sample were aged between 20 and 23. Table 2 shows how the future teachers surveyed assessed specific values of factors relating to health in childhood development. The most important factors are healthy diet, corporal hygiene and physical education. Three variables established the importance of the acquisition among Primary Education teachers of a basic knowledge of matters relating to childhood health: 1. Prevention 2. Health Education aimed at the promotion of healthy habits and lifestyles 3. Guidelines for immediate action in case of accident. As regards the first point, “prevention of child abuse” was by far the option with the greatest acceptance among those surveyed, while “information about vaccination calendar” obtained the lowest percentages. In the second point the majority opinion was “healthy diet”, while the least attention was paid to “correction of poor hygiene habits”. As regards the third point, “first aid” was the priority option, while less attention was paid to “bites and stings” or “sprains” (Table 3). When further examining the main topics included in the official curriculum of the Degree in Primary Education in education faculties, these were already included in Health Education and were geared toward the promotion of healthy habits and lifestyles, specifically free play and child psychomotricity, healthy diet, and postural hygiene. In contrast, it was observed that the more specific problems regarding

Table 2 Assessment of aspects of Health Education

% None

Poor

Good

Very good

Healthy diet

0

0.6

Fair 2.0

20.9

76.5

Accident prevention

0

2.0

9.5

47.5

41.0

Vaccinations

0.6

2.6

12.2

39.7

44.9

Sleep disorders

4.2

3.0

11.1

35.8

45.9

Postural hygiene

0

1.2

8.4

33.3

57.1

Visual hygiene

0.2

2.0

6.9

38.5

52.4

Corporal hygiene

0

0.2

1.8

27.2

70.8

Physical activity

0

1.6

4.0

31.3

63.1

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Table 3 Assessment for the need to train Primary Education Teachers in child health % None

Poor

Suitability of school installations and materials for the prevention of child accidents

0.6

1.2

Prevention of illnesses transmittable in school

0.6

Information about the vaccination calendar Prevention of learning difficulties relating to organic developmental disorders Prevention of child abuse

Fair

Good

Very good

6.4

40.2

51.6

1.2

10.2

36.7

51.2

2.0

11.1

28.6

34.7

23.6

0.2

2.2

7.9

40.5

49.2

0.4

0.8

1.8

19.2

77.8

22.9

74.5

1. Prevention

2. Health Education aimed at the promotion of healthy habits and lifestyles Healthy diet

0.2

0

2.4

Free play and child psychomotricity

0

1.2

7.0

44.0

47.8

Sleep disorders and daytime rest in childhood

0.4

2.8

12.0

42.8

42.0

Hygiene, personal care

0

0.4

5.0

30.7

63.9

Oral and dental health

0.2

2.8

13.3

34.3

49.4

Correction of poor hygiene habits: nose-picking, nail-biting …

0

2.8

14.7

41.2

41.4

Postural hygiene (correct posture)

0

0.6

4.6

33.8

61.0

Wounds and hemorrhages

0.2

0.2

8.0

34.5

57.0

Injury

0

1.4

11.6

33.3

53.6

Sprains

0.2

2.8

16.3

38.6

42.2

3. Guidelines for immediate action in the event of:

Burns

0.4

2.6

14.5

36.5

46.0

Bites and stings

0.4

4.2

22.1

36.5

36.7

Loss of consciousness: fainting, epilepsy…

0.6

1.2

10.2

27.1

60.8

Convulsions

0.4

1.6

8.0

29.7

60.2

Asthma attacks

0.2

1.0

10.6

26.7

61.4

Cardiac arrest and cardiopulmonary resuscitation

0.8

0.8

7.6

26.3

64.5

Intoxication from ingesting chemical liquids/solids

0.4

1.4

9.5

37.0

51.7

Celiac disease, lactose intolerance …

0.4

1.6

13.3

34.1

50.6

Diabetes (spikes in blood sugar)

0.4

0.8

8.5

32.4

57.9

Choking or swallowing foreign bodies

0.4

0.6

6.0

31.2

61.8

First aid

0.4

0

3.6

17.5

78.5

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procedure in the event of accidents are rarely examined. However, if we take into consideration extra-curricular courses outside the degree which students attend on their own initiative, the most sought-after are those relating to these types of incidents (first aid; cardiac arrest and cardiopulmonary resuscitation; choking or swallowing foreign bodies; wounds and hemorrhages). Among the aspects which students felt to be lacking in their training were information about the vaccination calendar; oral and dental health; allergies and intolerances; correction of poor hygiene habits; bites and stings; intoxication from ingesting chemical liquids/solids; and sleep disorders and daytime rest in childhood (Table 4). When asked to state the five aspects on childhood health they considered most important in Primary Teacher Training, the highest valued were: first aid, healthy diet, prevention of child abuse, prevention of learning difficulties related to organic developmental disorders, and adaptation of school installations and materials to the prevention of child accidents. The least mentioned options included bites and stings, information about the vaccination calendar, burns, oral and dental health, sprains, celiac disease and intolerance (Table 5). Most of those surveyed are in favor of including Preventive Medicine in the training of Primary Education teachers (94.7%). Only 0.2% of the sample consider this education should be the exclusive responsibility of the parents, while 0.6% believe that it is something that health professionals should provide.

3.3 Discussion The students surveyed consider healthy diet to be one of the most important aspects of childhood health, as well as a priority in primary education teacher training. This is also true of the prevention of child abuse and first aid. In contrast, the least considered aspects are information about the vaccination calendar and correction of hygiene habits. These points are deemed to be the responsibility of parents, not teachers. Other poorly valued factors are sprains and bites and stings, although we are inclined to think that these may not be so common in primary schools. As regards education received during teacher training most students state that they have received education in free play and child psychomotricity, healthy diet and postural hygiene, all of which aim to promote healthy habits and lifestyles. In contrast, there appears to be a severe shortage of guidelines for action in the event of child accidents, and these are rarely examined. Therefore, if we wish to achieve a suitable comprehensive training for future primary teachers all aspects of the individual students’ environment, including Health Education, should be assessed and taken into consideration. This is of particular importance for primary teacher training students, whose pupils will be young children.

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Table 4 University teacher training in prevention Curriculum Other

No

Adaptation of school installations and materials to the prevention of child accidents

30.6

7.3

62.1

Prevention of illnesses transmittable in schools

12.7

7.5

79.8

1. Prevention

Information about the vaccination calendar

2.6

3.2

94.2

Prevention of learning difficulties relating to organic developmental disorders

53.5

7.6

38.8

Prevention of child abuse

31.7

6.7

61.6

2. Health education aimed at the promotion of healthy habits and lifestyles Healthy diet

61.2

12.9

25.9

Free play and child psychomotricity

79.5

8.4

12.0

Sleep disorders and daytime rest in childhood

21.6

6.0

72.4

Hygiene, personal care

42.9

10.3

46.8

Oral and dental health

13.1

7.9

79.0

Correction of poor hygienic habits: nose-picking, nail-biting …

18.3

6.0

75.7

Postural hygiene (correct posture)

52.6

6.3

41.1

Wounds and hemorrhages

16.5

17.5

66.0

Injury

19.6

15.3

65.1

Sprains

19.6

15.3

65.1

3. Guidelines for immediate action in the event of:

Burns

13.9

16.5

69.6

Bites and stings

11.3

15.9

72.8

Loss of consciousness: fainting, epilepsy…

20.0

12.5

67.5

Asthma attacks

16.9

13.7

69.4

Cardiac arrest and cardiopulmonary resuscitation

16.3

18.7

65.0

Intoxication from ingesting chemical liquids/solids

14.5

12.7

72.7

Celiac disease, lactose intolerance …

12.9

11.1

76.0

Diabetes (spikes in blood sugar)

19.1

11.5

69.4

Choking or swallowing of foreign bodies

15.3

17.9

66.5

First aid

18.3

21.6

60.1

148 Table 5 Most important aspects for training of future Primary Education teachers

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% Adaptation of school installations and materials to the prevention of child accidents

34.1

Prevention of illnesses transmittable in schools

25.7

Information about the vaccination calendar

3.8

Prevention of learning difficulties relating to organic developmental disorders

34.1

Prevention of child abuse

56.5

Healthy diet

62.9

Free play and child psychomotricity

26.3

Sleep disorders and daytime rest in childhood

10.0

Hygiene, personal care

33.3

Oral and dental health

6.2

Correction of poor hygienic habits: nose-picking, nail-biting …

9.0

Postural hygiene (correct posture)

29.9

Wounds and hemorrhages

22.2

Injury

9.4

Sprains

9.8

Burns

4.6

Bites and stings

3.4

Loss of consciousness: fainting, epilepsy…

12.6

Asthma attacks

13.2

Cardiac arrest and cardiopulmonary resuscitation

22.8

Intoxication from ingesting chemical liquids/solids Celiac disease, lactose intolerance …

7.2 6.8

Diabetes (spikes in blood sugar)

10.4

Choking or swallowing of foreign objects

11.4

First aid

74.1

In conclusion, we consider that Health Education in schools is widely felt to be insufficient, and should be given more importance in primary teacher training in Andalusian universities. Consequently, we propose the incorporation of Health Education into schools’ educational projects, coherently including it in the curricula and lesson plans of primary schools, using methodologies that encourage children to take part in their own educational processes, developing basic skills. In addition, we propose the modification of primary education teacher training curricula to include Health Education as a compulsory subject in order to ensure a real and practical improvement of this subject within teacher training.

Trends in Health Education Training for Primary Teachers …

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4 Conclusion The aim of health education in primary schools should be to increase wellbeing and reduce health risks, focusing on the main objectives of health promotion based on an improved balance of physical, mental and social aspects of healthy lifestyles, as well as preventing any illnesses that might arise in this context. Numerous studies point out the deficiencies in health education within teacher training, which limits the teachers’ actions, preventing them from fully developing the protocols designed to safeguard the wellbeing of students We consider that Health Education in schools is widely felt to be insufficient, and should be given more importance in primary teacher training in Andalusian universities. We propose the incorporation of Health Education into schools’ educational projects, coherently including it in the curricula and lesson plans of primary schools, using methodologies that encourage children to take part in their own educational processes, developing basic skills. Also, we propose the modification of primary education teacher training curricula to include Health Education as a compulsory subject in order to ensure a real and practical improvement of this subject within teacher training.

References Albert, M.J.: La Investigación Educativa. Claves teóricas. Mc Graw Hill, Madrid (2007) Casero, I.: Educación para la Salud. Rev. Enfoques Educ. 16, 48–53 (2008) Cholevas, N.K., Loucaides, C.: Factors that facilitate and barriers towards the implementation of health educational programmes in primary education schools of the prefecture of Achaia, Greece. Health Educ. J. 71(3), 365–375 (2011) Davó, M. C., Gil-González, D., Vives-Cases, C., Álvarez-Dardet, C., La Parra, D.: Las investigaciones sobre promoción y educación para la salud en las etapas de infantil y primaria de la escuela española. Una revisión de los estudios publicados entre 1995–2005. Gac. Sanit. 22(1), 58–64 (2008) Drapeau, V., Savard, M., Gallant, A., Nadeau, L., Gagnon, J.: The effectiveness of a school-based nutrition intervention on children’s was fruit, vegetables, and dairy product intake. J. Sch. Health 86(5), 353–362 (2016) González, A.: Promoción de la alimentación saludable en escolares desde la perspectiva comunitaria: aportaciones del ámbito familiar, educativo y enfermero (Doctoral thesis). Universidad de Huelva, Huelva (2014) Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Education and training in crisis management. In: The European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences EpSBS, vol. XVI, pp. 849–856. Future Academy (2016) Jourdan, D., Pironom, J., Berger, D., Carvalho, G.: Factors influencing teachers’ views of health and health education: a study in 15 countries. Health Educ. J. 72(6), 660–672 (2012) LOE: Spanish Organic Law 2/2006, of 3 May, on Education, BOE, 4 de mayo de 2006. Agencia Spanish Official State Bulletin, Madrid (2006) Monsalve, L., Gallego, J., Aguilar, J.M.: Estudio analítico-comparado sobre las políticas educativas en educación para la salud en la Unión Europea. Psychol. Soc. Educ. 5(2), 163–174 (2013)

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Nobiling, B., Lyde, A.: From the school health education study to the national health education standards: concepts endure. J. Sch. Health 85(5), 309–317 (2015) Padilla, M.T.: Técnicas e instrumentos para el diagnóstico y la evaluación educativa. Editorial CCS, Madrid (2002) Rodrigo, M., Ejeda, J.M., González, M.P., Mijancos, M.T.: Concepciones sobre alimentación en estudiantes de magisterio y enfermería. Construcción del conocimiento pedagógico en cuestiones dietéticas. Teorí. Educ. 26(1), 187–209 (2014) Rodríguez, C.R., Torres, M.L., Aguirre, A.: Conocimientos y actitudes del profesor ante el asma del alumno. Anal. Pediatr. 72(6), 413–419 (2010) Sanz-Arazuri, E., Alonso, R.A., Valdemoros-San Emeterio, M.Á., Ponce de León, A.: Validation of a questionnaire to know how kindergarten teachers develop health education through motor area. Rev. Iberoam. Diagn. Eval. Psicol. 1(35), 9–34 (2013) Skar, M., Kirstein, E., Kapur, A.: Lessons learnt from school-based health promotion projects in low- and middle-income countries. Child Care Health Dev. 41(6), 1114–1123 (2015) Svarcova, I., Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Navrátil, J.: (2016). Crisis management and education in health. Eur. Proc. Soc. Behav. Sci. EpSBS XVI, 2301-2218 20 255-261 Tesler, R., Harel-Fisch, Y., Baron-Epel, O.: School health promotion policies and adolescent risk behaviors in Israel: a multilevel analysis. J. Sch. Health 86(6), 435–443 (2016)

Learning Environment as Bridge Between School and Community Fiorella Paone

Abstract The work shows the concept of learning environment as an organized space of action, a place of relation both physical, mental and virtual able to integrate emotional and cognitive aspects of the students. The reflection rests on a constructivist matrix that helps to sustain school difficulties in a socio-cultural context characterized by a deep change of communicational dynamics and, so, of most popular modalities of communication and relation both between teachers and students and among peer. The concept of learning environment is displayed as functional to teacher’s work who is thought as reflective expert who acts in uncertain contexts. Moving from this concept, in fact, teacher puts conditions to face complexity far from mechanical routine and rules which flatten and trivialize articulated processes rich of differences, as those of learning. Planning a learning environment means simultaneously acting on different aspects which affect educational dynamics, taking care and managing its complexity, not only introducing new educational ways of working, but above all standing as complementary and joining factor of pre-existing methodologies, re-arranging and re-qualifying them with an epistemic vision that gives value to their elements and validate their foundations. Therefore, the role of teacher is meant to trigger processes of knowledge construction oriented to responsibility and autonomy as well as to plan educational goals environment-fixed and defined in terms of expertise, supporting relation between school and everyday life of students. Keywords Learning environment · Teacher · Education · School

F. Paone (B) Department of Philosophical, Pedagogical and Economic Quantitative Sciences, d’Annunzio University, Via dei Vestini, Chieti, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_12

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1 Communicational Requirements: From Social Context to School Context Since 1996, Turkle sustains that in the north-west context children grow up deep in IT culture, while adults are naturalized citizens at least, or, with a Prensky-way (2001, 2012), digital immigrants.1 This reflection immediately identifies the matter of the work I’m going to deal with, since it highlights a strong intergenerational communicational distance that can influence disfunctionally educational processes. The scientific orientation according to which childhood is passing away is more and more accredited (Postman 1982) replaced by digital natives2 (Prensky 2001, 2012). They are those who belong to a generation born and grown together with new media technologies diffusion, considered new standard of cultural construction, elaboration and transmission (Mc Luhan 1962). The influence of new communicative technologies, in fact, can trigger communicational processes of construction of person different compared to processes of the previous generation, already defined of digital immigrants, activating new theoretical-behavioural paradigms, that is new ways of encoding/decoding of environment and new cognitive styles which become new preconditions to action (Ferri 2011). In particular, the use of the web together with other digital technologies—i.e. smartphones, cameras, etc.—make person develop in a context where the learning process is defined by shared discussion based on interaction, cooperation, multi-sensory, share and speed of stimulus sharing (Jenkins 2006, 2009). Mono-media and self-reference of typographic knowledge as well as disciplinary education are overtaken. For these reasons, we should need new socioeducative hypotheses able to overtake traditional schemes and give new models of educative interventions. In linguistics, for example, De Mauro underlines how education must stimulate a critical and aware attitude towards media and give value to connection between technical capacities and language, so between physical and biological being and symbolic and semiotic capacities (2004). What above-mentioned contributes to underline how the traditional model on which school is based is far from extra-school experience of its students. Usually the activities students choose, which are important for the socialization, collide with school education that consider them just “wasting of time”. Extra-school activities build more and more the sense of life experience of a lots of students, but 1 Digital

immigrants choice has been taken with awareness that this concept is object of a wide and strong discussion in scientific literature and we are aware of its risks of an uncritical use (Ferri 2011: 7). However, different from Jenkins, we think that the effective of this expression and metaphor of native/digital immigrants is a good reason to use it. Jenkins’ reflection has been take in consideration since he highlights how an uncritical use of this expression could lead to underestimate differences of access to new technologies, of expertise linked to their use and origins in relation to socio-cultural patrimony, and on the other side overestimate the generational component taking for granted the use of new virtual expertise (cfr. Jenkins 2009, tr. it. 2010). They think, in fact, that acquisition of such expertise is non natural but is a goal of learning process based on aware citizenship. 2 Cf. Footnote 1.

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usually are kept outside the school since school doesn’t give an help to integrate them condemning them and, so, closing off. These considerations make a new paradigm rise up in the last four decades moving from a teaching process-based vision to learning-process (Barone 2014). This perspective embraces aspects of children emerging culture (Corsaro 1997), promoting differences. School offer, so, is declined considering needs of younger generation and specificities of each learning process. Learning is, in fact, considered a system of no-linear processes interrelated that are made during an active path of elaboration and re-elaborated version of personal cognitive and meta-cognitive map and negotiation and sharing of social meanings. Learning, besides, should be defined as: • significant, since develops from interaction between owned personal knowledge and new one; • personalised, since depends on learning way of learning of each student. For these reasons, a constructivistic perspective is chosen since the attention moves from school results to learning subject, so to his/her multiple processes of elaboration of meanings (Papert 1980). In order to promote learning, so, we take as essential process of analogy and transfert and incitement to knowledge. The student, thus, is not seen any more as a container to fill up through teacher’s knowledge, but as an active subject able to contribute to his/her own educational process starting from a personal and different position that could be a strength point if supported (Hoskova-Mayerova 2014).

2 Learning Environment as Key for Interpretation and Action New-media culture is characterised by flexibility and modularity (Ong 1982), incites processes of teaching/learning that substitute traditional models of organisation of information with offers based on personalisation of educational path. In such a context, concept of learning environment allows to reduce risks of fragmentary process related to dispersion of information, building a relational connection able to systematise teaching/learning process. Learning environment is definable as the context of orientation and support to process of knowledge, abilities and expertise construction by the student, as real and virtual space where experience function of scaffolding by teacher (Wood et al. 1976; Hoskova and Mokra 2010). Education, in fact, is not seen as cause of learning, but as a process able to create a context in which learning is supported, as well as it happens in order contexts, both formal and no-formal and informal (Wenger 2002). Speaking of which, “national directions” for Nursery and Junior school (2012) think that in order to convert school context into learning environment: (…) school has to build up as comfortable space, engaging students themselves. Conditions that support the well-being at school are very significant in order to get wider participation of

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children and young to educational shared path (…) Organisation of space and time becomes trait of pedagogic quality of educational environment and, thus, has to be the object of an expressed plan and check (…) Acquisition of knowledge requires flexible and equipped spaces that support knowledge approaches to sciences, technologies, community languages, music, drama, painting, sport.

Summarising, so, features that convert a school context into an open and cooperative learning environment are: • • • • •

incitement of students experience and knowledge; effective actions of differences inclusion; learning support by means of exploration and discover; promotion of awareness of self learning; school activities of workshop kind.

Learning environment could be defined as an organised space of action, a relation space able to integrate both emotional and cognitive aspects of students (HoskovaMayerova and Rosicka 2012). It is to be thought as a physical space related to availability of the class with its tools; as mental one related to requested actions, relational modalities, emotional and cognitive mood. Learning environment, besides, should be thought as virtual space: it can expand by means of new communication technologies that could lead to exploration of class if critically used. New technologies can support school planning without replacing technology to teacher but enforcing teachers themselves. In order to build a learning environment we have to move from a clear definition of demand and problems make cognitive and operative tools available for the students. Educational choices, organisation of materials, spaces, contents, construction of the right mood are at the basis of success of teaching/learning relation inside the class. In this sense, class is to be thought as learning environment, so as significant anthropological shared space, in opposition to non-places (Augè 1992). Learning environment essential function is the building a positive relational class mood able to lead students to construction of their knowledges. Pre-condition of learning is a positive emotional situation for the student. Learning environment is, therefore, intentionally set by the teacher due to lead educational process of students moving from a personalised and participating perspective (Hart 1992). A learning environment allows to (Barone 2014, p. 71): • • • •

research and select information; identify and perceive goals and solutions; learn to communicate, express and listen; be able to compare to the others through creation of shared background thanks to which it’s possible to build concurrences on language; • work in group; • learn to use concepts learnt. What said should happen in a perspective by means each incitement (that emotionally engaged person) can find the context where it is elaborated and, so, build knowledge and expertise of each person in a direction of well-being of growing path.

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Finally, European work of 2004 “DG Education and Culture” about innovation related to learning environment at school highlights a strong social worth of learning environment described as able to overcome limits of class and create a bridge between formal, informal and non-formal educational context. As an integrated system of solutions, learning environment supports cooperative processes that are experienced both in physical and virtual contexts, outside and inside the school, through interaction between schools and institution, such as museums, libraries, game rooms, etc. Concepts that emerge with a significant strength from learning environment perspective based on centrality of person and territory openness are: well-being, welcome, flexibility, identity and sociality, thought as basis of functional growth of individual and community. We are, in fact, aware that in order to answer to complexity we need to use different strategies which make personalisation and cooperation between institutions their strength points (Bagnara et al. 2014).

3 Teacher’s Role Teacher is here seen as reflective practitioner who acts in situation of uncertainty and, so, admits and defines his/her own doubts in order to face uncertainty itself (Morin 2000). Perrenoud (1999) in addition to the above-mentioned perspective states that teacher awareness is related to ten dimensions summarized as follows: • • • • • • • • • •

organising and animating situation of learning; managing learning progressions; planning and using personalised tools; promoting active participation of students to learning process; supporting active engagement of parents; cooperating with colleagues; participating to school management; using new technologies; stimulating a professional ethics refection; taking care of own educational refresh in a long-life learning perspective.

All these aspects require an open school planning that contemplates interaction between pronged paths and an individual and common reflective practice. It takes place a learning perspective that use a methodology based on case-study, problem solving, game, role playing and each strategy which refers to real problems with a non-predeterminated solutions. Educational goal will be the construction of expertise considered as: demonstrated capacity of using personal, social and/or methodologi-

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cal knowledges, abilities and attitudes in situation of work and study and professional and individual development.3 In this perspective, learning environment becomes an epistemological and pragmatical key because defines a space that make students able to learn and move their own resources in order to realize a plan and solve problems, that is to say building expertise (Nuzzaci 2012). The concept at the base is that learning environment, kind of materials and tools themselves should trigger a cognitive process related to emerging needs. Teacher has to set and manage learning environment able to maintain and reduce complexity, orienting, supporting and enforcing process of growth of students in a functional direction to their well-being. From a methodological point of view, teacher has to consider class a learning community, an organisation of relations between a group of persons (class) and a context, both physical and cultural based on an ethic dimension of common value that allows those who belong to it to have common criteria for orientation and analysis (Colombo 2001). From this point of view, teacher has responsibility and duties of: – – – – – – – –

observation of good practice; roles alternation; knowledge analysis; step by step approach; good practice; workshop-oriented school; research-action methodology; creation of motivating context.

Teacher displays his/her work in 3 steps: first, he/she decides ways of work (individual, double, group…) and modalities of group building, planning activities from preparation of materials to predisposition of criteria of (self)observation and (self)evaluation of works and learning. Second, he/she directs, motivates and creates expectations: • • • • • • •

shows (…and discuss with class) goals, tasks, procedures gives indications of work, verify if students have understood, explains evaluation criteria, observes class observes interaction among/between groups, supports and gives advices without solutions

Finally, teacher collects data on obtained learning in order to give scientificity to his/her reflective practice. Teacher, so, becomes “director” and stands for the one

3 “European

Qualifications Framework”, based on “Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council”, 5 September 2006.

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who plans and sets situation to support more effective learning by his/her point of view in relation with specific class (Pontecorvo et al. 1995). Teacher’s role has moved from “transmitter” to facilitator of learning. Teacher doesn’t determine learning mechanically but learning process depends on specific context through ways of cooperation and social negotiation. It is the product of active participation of the individual based on individual and intentional “construction of meaning” leaded by both cognitive and emotional aspects. In order to make student more and more aware of these strategies, teacher has to support them in a meta-cognitive process of decoding of their own modalities of study and motivation (Rosicka and Hoskova-Mayerova 2013). This fact implies a positive school results as well as a strong self identity construction. Inside a learning environment well planned and, so, effective teacher and student share learning coconstruction, setting a relation more and more motivating and learning-oriented. Teacher can enforce external and internal motivation (Lepper 1988) by means specific incitement: verbal praise, positive feedback about tests, use of familiar materials, use of game, as well as minimizing of unproductive effects of boring lessons too fast or too difficult, stand in the same position, stay in cold environment and mood without light, etc. It’s significant, besides, put into student’s value of School and study, demonstrating by the example that education is a long-life activity, a nice and stimulating activity to keep during life. Teacher stands as this real example with his/her capacity to restyle practices, moving away from tradition and routine, planning, proposing and experiencing new and brave ways of learning environment construction related to the wider context of the students.

4 Conclusions More than 15 years are passed since school autonomy law,4 Agreement States Regions and Local Authority5 and European recommendations have promoted a normative and cultural change in order to get a synergic cooperation between all educative components of territory (school, family, local institutions, associations, job). In fact, they think that educative fragmentation could be overtaken by means of networking actions that direct works of different involved organisations in a coresponsible educational perspective (Brint 2007). 4 Italian

Autonomy Law (n. 59 del 15/3/1997)—http://archivio.pubblica.istruzione.it/dg_postsecondaria/allegati/legge150397.pdf. e relativo decreto attuativo (D.P.R. n. 275 dell’ 8/3/1999)—http://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/ atto/serie_generale/caricaDettaglioAtto/originario?atto.dataPubblicazioneGazzetta=1999-08-10& atto.codiceRedazionale=099G0339&normativi=false&tipoVigenza=originario&tipoSerie=serie_ generale¤tPage=1. 5 “Agreement State-Regions” 2 March 2000—http://archivio.pubblica.istruzione.it/dg_postsecondaria/allegati/acc020300.pdf.

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For these reasons school as hub of the above-mentioned network is considered the real opportunity to face requests coming from the context and to cooperate in decoding of cultural and educational needs of territory. In this scene, the concept of learning environment is functional to overcome limits of class and able to build a bridge with the other agencies of socialisation. It supports, indeed, cooperative processes that are experienced both in physical and virtual environment. Thinking the school as learning environment modern and flexible without planning new buildings but re-defining and re-using existing structures allow to: • optimise use of (human, economic, structural) resources internal and external to school; • overcome fragmentary educational opportunities; • contextualise contents of education; • reestablish role of school as social intellectual; • make school a place of cultural elaboration as well as community and social participation, of active citizenship. It’s, in fact, an illusion keep thinking that teachers can change school while school doesn’t change. Considering teachers as changing agents is still possible only if we take school as a changing institution too that reinvent and re-plan goals and educative strategies, rules and routine (Besozzi 2006: 282). Teacher, so, can contribute to construction of school reality, but they can do it in relation to limits and institutional opportunities they are involved in, therefore change is possible only moving from interaction between a reconsideration of such a duty and chance and teachers’ availability to call into question ineffective strategies and practices.

References Augè, M.: Non-Lieux. Introduction à une anthropologie de la surmodernité. Le Seuil, Paris (1992) Bagnara, S., Campione, V., Mosa, E., Possi, S., Tosi, L.: Apprendere in Digitale. Come cambia la scuola in Italia e in Europa. Guerini e Associati, Milano (2014) Barone, F.: Il tempo della clessidra. La didattica e la sua dimensione relazionale e temporale. Anicia ed., Roma (2014) Besozzi, E.: Società cultura educazione. Carocci, Roma (2006) Brint S.: Scuola e società. Il Mulino, Bologna (2007) Colombo, M.: Scuola e Comunità locali. Carocci, Roma (2001) Corsaro, W.: Sociology of Childhood. Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks (1997). Tr. It. Le culture dei bambini, Il Mulino, Bologna (2003) De Mauro, T.: Nuove tesi per un’educazione linguistica democratica. In: “Insegnare” n. 4/2004, 39–43 (2004) European Commission: Study on Innovative Learning Environments in School Education. Final Report (2004) Ferri, P.: Nativi digitali. Mondadori, Milano (2011) Hart, R.: Children’s Participation: from Tokenism to Citizenship. For UNICEF Innocenti Essays, No. 4, UNICEF/International Child Development Centre, Florence, Italy (1992)

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Educational Models of Social Cohesion in Marginal Contexts: The Social Space as an Educational Agent Isotta Mac Fadden

Abstract The main objective of this research is to analyze the relationship between the advance of social marginality and education as a tool of social cohesion, making an exploratory study of a qualitative nature that is limited to the scope of the doctoral study by the same author, started in 2015: “Advanced Marginality and Social Space: New Models of Cohesion, El cado de Torreblanca”. Advanced marginality (Wacquant in Parias urbanos. Marginalidad en la ciudad a comienzos del milenio. Ediciones Manantial, Buenos Aires, 2006), shows the constant advance of the phenomenon, and the need for new public policies and social inclusion. Democracy—understood as an aspiration to the realization of the well-being of every individual that does not correspond to mere principles of utility, but to the possibilities of action and choice within alternative combinations accessible to all—has as its primary objective the training of all citizens (Sen in La libertà individuale come impegno sociale. Editori laterza, Bari, 2007). In a democratic government, one way to offer this set of capacityaction that Sen (La libertà individuale come impegno sociale. Editori laterza, Bari, 2007) defines as a capability, could be to invest in education, in the construction of a paideia, promoter of rights and opportunities, capable of really making the free individual. Education has to be, then, a protagonist in the construction of social spaces—which become educational agents—in which people can show, with facts and words, who they are and what they can do (Arendt in Men in the Dark Times. Ancourt Brace, New York, 1986), through an educational model oriented to human development (Nussbaum in Creare capacità. Liberarsi dalla dittatura del Pi, Bologna, 2012), and to promote educational experiences of social cohesion, which start from the focal point that each human being is constituted as a being whose singularity is realized in plurality (Mortari in A scuola di libertà. Formazione e Pensiero autonomo. Raffaello Cortina, Milano, 2008). Keywords Education · Marginality · Capability · Social spaces · Human development

I. Mac Fadden (B) Pablo de Olavide University, Seville, Spain e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_13

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1 Education as a Process: A Model of Social Cohesion The main objective of this research is to analyze the relationship between advanced marginality and education as a process of community learning of social cohesion (Janmaat 2006; Cano Hila and García Cabeza 2012). Advanced marginality is the concept that expresses the increase of inequality on all levels in urban contexts, which indicates a functional disconnection at the macroeconomic level, in constant progress (Wacquant 2008; Paugman 2013; UNDP 2014). Current phenomena such as globalization (Held and Mc Grew 2001; Atkinson 2016) and globalization (Ortiz 1997; Zolo 2000; Stiglitz 2015) have led to a progressive disconnection of social links producing a profound crisis in cohesion. This is why it is necessary to propose new strategies for dealing with growing vulnerabilities and the reproduction of advanced marginal contexts (Robeyns and Brighouse 2010; Cano Hila and García Cabeza 2012). Social cohesion indicates the set of behaviors and links between individuals and communities, aimed at attenuating, in a constructive sense, the inequalities and marginalities advanced in social, economic and political situations, connected to territorial units. It can be understood as the capacity in society to ensure well-being for all its members, minimizing inequalities and avoiding polarization, with policies that aspire to fulfill a real democracy in fiscal policy, politics, employment, the labor market, gender, migration, education (Jaraíz Arroyo 2004; Vallejo et al. 2017). The increase of social, political and economic vulnerabilities, following the perspective of Local Human Development, makes recognizable the importance of curing dimensions, such as social capital, and in the networks of relationships according to a perspective of the subject, that occur in a specific urban context. Social capital can be defined as the potential set of resources and tools present in a given territory and its processual relation—conditioned by the social space and the distribution of symbolic and material power—with the individual and their links. Its procedural nature makes us reflect on the need to build new contexts of citizen empowerment, avoiding feeding marginal structural contexts (Habermas 1976; Verón 1995; Bourdieu 1990; Simmel 1995; Putnam 2002; Robeyns and Brighouse 2010; Atkinson 2016). The empowerment of citizens, which depends on the range of attainable opportunities, is strongly linked to symbolic power, the power to define reality, the idea of the possible and the impossible. The capability as a set of capacity-ability, is conditioned then, by definition a tool of reality in which the subject lives: education, according to this approach, becomes a key element in the overcoming of marginality (Bourdieu 1990; Coleman 1990; Bagnasco 1999; Sen 2007; Touraine 2011; Teubner et al. 2012). Education is a process of learning and identity construction, in which, through participation and action, not only the subject is built but also its reality, using the elements it offers, influencing and contributing to modify production and a sense of social reality, and, consequently, access to social capital.

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Education, on the one hand, in a critical perspective, is a part of the superstructure of society that regulates the relations of power, a privileged place of cultural elements that influence the reproduction of social relations (Gramsci 1981; Halpern 2005; Lozares 2008; Tello 2012), on the other, it represents a tool, a new form of education that allows us to read and use the capital to face the reproduction of asymmetrical relations of marginality as a relational and community perspective (Freire 1993; Martinez 2005; Ytarte 2007; Yordi and Caballero 2009). It is understood, then, that the empowerment of the subject is carried out through a processual, contextual and relational education, which cannot be limited exclusively to the context of traditional educational agents (such as school and family) and oriented to traditional subjects (the student body), but it is a process that involves the entire community. Education as a community process stresses, in fact, change in the human being, possibilities and opportunities (reflected and fed behavior, their values, their orientations toward society as an ecological perspective), as an expression of new culture to generate positive needs oriented to a local human development for social cohesion (Corral and Pardo 2001; Cabrera and Mazzarella 2001; Wolf 2002; Easterly et al. 2006). In order to deepen the relationship between processual education, advanced marginality and social cohesion, a documentary content analysis of the scientific literature on the reproduction strategy—through the data interpretation technique—based on a broader study has been carried out, taking as a case study a neighborhood of Seville, Torreblanca, considered as a Zone in Need of Social Transformation (Andalusian Plan for Development Cooperation 2015–2018-Department of Equality and Social Policies, Junta de Andalucía).

2 Advanced Marginality, Symbolic Power and Identity Process The concept of social capital—with other agents of social space (state, social policies, economy and others)—leads one to see education as a process-tool of construction and reproduction of reality and identity linked to power relations (Bourdieu 1999; Coleman 1990; Putnam 2002; Tironi 2008; Hoskova-Mayerova 2011). Social capital—generated by the relationships of authority, trust and norms—is an appropriable fact of the social structure and is concretized in relational networks in which individuals are inserted to activate resources for action strategies. The creation of social capital is a set of immediate or potential resources that are related to having a lasting network of more or less institutionalized relationships of belonging to a group, as agents that are endowed with common properties and ties enhanced by permanent and useful links. The society of super-modernity seems to be incapable of producing integration spaces and producing a coherent social fabric and—although it continues to use and

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undo its plots—it structurally creates marginal contexts characterized by asymmetric power relations of symbolic definition (Habermas 1976; Woolcock and Narayan 2000; Vranken 2001; Augé 2009). The power to perpetuate a social order is expressed through legitimacy, or the ability to control resources that have an importance and value of social relevance. Power exists as habitus and as a field, and has a physical and symbolic dimension. Symbolic power is an unrecognizable form, transfigured and legitimized by different forms of power. Therefore, it is necessary to practice a “symbolic violence” that manifests itself by imposing meanings: “make see and make believe” (Bourdieu and Wacquant 2008; Wimmer 2012). The definition of spaces, the result of the relation of forces, is based mainly on the appropriation of the territory’s definition of symbolic power. Living in a place influences the construction of identity. The condition of disadvantage that can result is a factor of criminalization and marginalization: the negative identification is transformed into a territorial stigmatization, transforming into a disability that the subject has to overcome, as shown by the behaviors and cultural models derived from neighborhood effects and the discrimination of the address effects. Marginality conditions may favor the reproduction of disabling cultural behaviors and models and, in addition, living in these areas may mean that residents may suffer an intangible but widespread form of discrimination (Alietti 1998; Wacquant 2001; UNDP 2014). This power is expressed in a process of identity construction and reality conditioned by a habitus that tends to internalize through a contextual education. Man is an animal hung in networks of meaning that he himself has woven: reality appears objective through a process of typing legitimized by the relations of powers of definition that are assimilated through education. In the interaction with the environment the individual begins a process of mutual adaptation, the adaptation of which is not limited to a single environmental situation, but includes more immediate environmental interconnections (Bronfenbrenner 1987; Geertz 1983; Berger and Luckmann 1968). The formation of identity as a social process begins in early childhood and develops in parallel movement with the evolution of its socialization. The concept of self is modeled in parallels between the perception of oneself—and one’s own actions—and the image-speech that people in their contexts have about themselves and the models that are presented externally as an opportunity towards expression. To influence our identity is the understanding of beliefs and expectations, which arise in social interaction in their daily practices, in reflecting and absorbing opinions about oneself. In this important and complex process, it is carried out through continuous negotiation with the other, with otherness (Giménez 2000; Scandroglio et al. 2008; Colen and Jarauta 2010). Education plays an essential role in the construction of identity, being one of the most influential contextual references in the life of the individual for the creation and development of new ways of thinking and discourses. Mastery of the process of construction of realities allows individuals to use and recognize contexts and active participation in new and diverse cultural activity and opens up the possibility

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of accessing and using new ways of representing, reflecting and acting on reality. Learning is then a process in which, through participation and action, we build our image of reality, using the elements that reality itself offers, influencing and contributing to modify the production and sense of social reality (Bailys et al. 2011). Among the different educational paradigms, the critical theory of education is considered as a mechanism of social reproduction of a vertical and authoritarian approach to the perception and construction of reality. According to this perspective, education must be synonymous with emancipation as the independence from everything outside the individual (Kemmis and Fitzclarence 2008; Morales 2010). At the same time, it promotes the development of critical-reflective thinking skills in order to transform society. With Freire, analyzing the asymmetric relationship establishes a foundation to understand education as an ancestor and its possibilities: education becomes a fundamental tool in the reproduction of a strategy to confront advanced marginality and promote social cohesion (Morin 2001; Arcidiacono and Putton 2002; Moro 2013; Quarta and Spanò 2016). The social space as an educational agent: mechanisms for the reproduction of marginality and strategies for action. The mechanisms that influence the regeneration of conditions of advanced marginality at the expense of social cohesion can be analyzed through the strategies of social reproduction, related to dimensions such as social capital and social space. The social space, unlike the geographical space, is a multidimensional space of positions and each position can be defined by a system of coordinates, each linked to a distribution of a specific social capital (Fig. 1). Strategies of social reproduction are the set of fundamental practices, by means of which individuals and families tend, consciously or not, to preserve and maintain the heritage, and to preserve or improve the position in the class structure (Bourdieu 1988; Kerbo and Harold 2004; Terzanos 2006). The different strategies condition different life evolutions: family, existential adaptation of survival. Social space, not being geographical, is a multidimensional space of positions and each position can be defined by a system of coordinates each connected to a

Fig. 1 Margin of action according to the territorial social capital. Own elaboration

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distribution of a specific capital (Bourdieu 1990; Sassen 2007; González and Requena 2008; Pérez Díaz 2008; Svatonova and Hoskova-Mayerova 2017). The first factor on which the strategy depends is the volume, structure and historical evolution of capital to reproduce. These are sets of goods (economic, cultural, social and symbolic) that the group owns. Another element is the state of the system of reproduction tools, institutionalized or not, and their evolution. Here I interplay the geographical distance, the distribution of the group in space and the location with respect to the center of production and distribution of different types of coming and real social distance, which refers to the concrete social possibility of access to goods. Two other incisive factors are: the state of relations between different groups, that is, the performance that different reproduction tools can offer to the investments of each group, and the habitus, understood as a scheme of perception and action, of the system of disposition in perceiving, thinking, acting—determined by the practical definition of the possible and impossible, of the thinkable and unthinkable (Abrahams and Ingram 2013; Friedman 2016). These factors determine which position individuals or groups of individuals occupy in the social space. The choice of a strategy will be influenced by: the margin of action of each social agent (i.e., the determination and creativity of individual initiative while taking into account the external conditioning); the way in which the subject is located (i.e., the social position conditioned by the insertion in the economic production system); the habitus (which shows how the rationality of action is limited by experience and the individual experience) (Steinmetz 2011; Silva 2016). Underlining the importance of these elements that justify the weight of a social history of capital understood as accumulation in the history of a practical sense, it can be evidenced how the subjects defined as marginal are not only what they are, but also what they have, thus perfecting also the understanding of the reproduction mechanism of marginality (Reay 2004; Wacquant 2014) (Fig. 2). The set of these factors creates what determines the definition of strategy, i.e., the variation of one of these elements determines the variables of possible strategies. An obvious example is the difference between survival strategy or change strategy, one finalized to adapt and reproduce the current situation, the other oriented to reinforce individual capital to create a variation of one’s existence, rescuing the active and inventive production of practice and the capacity generated by the habitus. Changing one of the factors modifies the relationship with capital, defines the correlative transformation of the space of possibilities, and questions the mode of reconversion of capital species (Barnett 2008; Ignatow 2009; Friedman 2016). In this sense the local space, the neighborhood, for example, can be the unit that functions as a body and a field (Bourdieu), as a unit of value and as a space to combine resources, inside and outside this unit. It is fundamental then, to look at the networks of exchange of goods and services, which are presented as decisive alternative resources in the face of economic insecurity and the precariousness of other accessible resources.

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Strategies of social reproduction (margin Practices for goods and social position of possibility, rationality of choice, social capital) Social Capital (volume, structure and Sets of assets (economic, cultural, social historical evolution)

and symbolic) that the group owns

State of the reproduction tool system - Real geographic and social distance institutional and not- and its evolution

(concrete possibilities of access to goods) and distribution of the group in space

State of relationship between groups

Performance of the different reproduction tools offered to the investments of each group

Habitus

Social agents (schemes of perception, action, disposition in perceiving, thinking and acting) that determine the practical definition of possible and impossible

Fig. 2 Strategies of reproduction of social marginality. Own elaboration

If we understand education as a contextual and relational process, of possibility of access to social capital, the social space is considered the main educational agent (Lizardo 2004; Stam 2009; Wetherell 2012).

3 Education as a Tool for Social Cohesion in Advanced Marginal Contexts Understanding advanced marginality, as a set of basic forms of disqualification of the capacities of individuals—be it of the means they have to perform their various ends in the exercise of their freedom and happiness—education, as social capital in a certain social fabric—the social space—becomes a tool to favor spaces of social cohesion. According to this research, education is the training of all the members of a community, in the access to strategies of equal action that allows for the full development of the citizens (Arendt 2001; Sen 2007; Brodsky and Bennett Cattaneo 2013; Svatonova and Hoskova-Mayerova 2017).

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It is identified in the process in which, through participation and action, the reality is constructed and the social structure and the distribution of social capital are legitimized: the larger the plot of finite meanings, the more the variety of possibility of using the resources within our reach to imagine a more varied range of possible worlds. In this way, the awareness that all actions produce a meaning in reality—that the motivations that move a goal, the emotions, construct in a dialogical way our identity and our reality—allows us to propose a change based on active participation in social space (Martinez Tena 2000; Marchioni 2006). Education plays a political role in that it can decide whether to break or reproduce the power mechanism between cultures, enhancing its cultural tools, or not adapting them to the dominant culture a new form of development, which reinterprets the meaning of the common good through democracy, relying on a new policy. Politics, understood as equality of participation in opposition to violence—or the domination of power—is the true human essence and the only source of true happiness. Processual education is a socio-political process of citizenship construction that involves in a total transversal way the dimensions of the social space for the development of the person: to carry out a transformation in a process of equal and horizontal democratic participation (Sen 1993; Arendt 2006). It is a democratic management implementation process carried out through dialogue and participation that generates—reinforcing trust in the community itself—a context of commitment and co-responsibility that feeds the relational networks, producers of good practices through which culture is internalized, in a positive and egalitarian development process (Messing 2008; Mello 2009). It is fundamental to educate the individual towards equality, if we want to build an equal and free society. Education should guide the implementation of a being that does not respond in terms of utility, but in terms of the possibility of life and freedom, offering that mixture of rights and opportunities that can make the individual truly free. In this perspective, educational processes have to focus on an intense dialogue in a process of negotiation of meanings. The ultimate goal of processual education is to create an empowered community that works towards a common good by developing, under the identification of common needs, action strategies that provide opportunities for citizen participation for the development of a more democratic and potentially human context of an empowerment of individual development (Caride 2005; Nervi and Nervi 2007; Darmon 2016, Hoskova-Mayerova and Maturo 2018)).

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Putnam, R.: Solo en la bolera. Colapso y resurgimiento de la comunidad norteamericana. Galaxia Gutenberg, Barcelona (2002) Quarta, A., Spanò, M. (eds.): Beni comuni 2.0. Contro-egemonia e nuove istituzioni, Sesto San Giovanni (MI), Mimesis (2016) Reay, D.: It’s all becoming a habitus: beyond the habitual use of habitus in educational research. Br. J. Sociol. Educ. 25(4), 431–444 (2004) Robeyns, I., Brighouse, H.: Measuring Justice: Primary Goods and Capabilities. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2010) Sassen, S.: Una sociología de la globalización. Katz, Madrid (2007) Scandroglio, Bárbara, et al.: La teoría de la identidad social: una síntesis crítica de sus fundamentos, evidencias y controversias. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid (2008) Sen, A.: La libertà individuale come impegno sociale. Editori laterza, Bari (2007) Silva, E.B.: Habitus: beyond sociology. Sociol. Rev. 64(1), 73–92 (2016) Simmel, G.: Le metropoli e la vita dello spirito. Arnando, Roma (1995) Stam, H.J.: ‘Habitus, psychology and ethnography’, Introduction to the special section. Theory and Psychology 19(6), 707–711 (2009) Steinmetz, G.: Bourdieu, historicity and historical sociology. Cult. Sociol. 11(1), 45–66 (2011) Stiglitz, J.: La gran brecha. Qué hacer con las sociedades desiguales. Ed. Taurus, Madrid (2015) Svatonova, H., Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Social aspects of teaching: subjective preconditions and objective evaluation of interpretation of image data. In: Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Maturo F., Kacprzyk J. (eds.) Mathematical-Statistical Models and Qualitative Theories for Economic and Social Sciences. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol. 104. Springer, Berlin (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54819-7_13 Tello, C.: Las epistemologías de la política educativa: vigilancia y posicionamiento epistemológico del investigar en política educativa. Praxis Educ. 7(1), 53–68 (2012). https://doi.org/10.5212/ praxeduc.v.7i1.0003 Teubner, G, Sasse, S.; Krasner, S.D.: Estado, soberanía y globalizacon. Siglo del hombre editores (2012) Tezanos, J.F.: Tendencias sociales 1995–2006. Once años de cambios. Sistema, Madrid (2006) Tironi, E., et. al.: Espacios, Redes e Instituciones. Soportes de la cohesión social en Latinoamérica. Uqbar, Colección Cieplan, Santiago (2008) Touraine, A.: Después de la crisis. Paidós, Barcelona (2011) Vallejo, A., Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Krahulec, J., Sarasola, J.L.: Risks associated with reality: how society views the current wave of migration: one common problem—two different solutions. Stud. Syst. Decis. Control 104, 283–305 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54819-7_19 Verón, E.: Construir el acontecimiento. Gedisa, Barcelona (1995) Vranken, J.: “No Social Cohesion without Social Exclusion?” Research Unit on Poverty, Social Exclusion and the City, University of Antwerp, at http://www.shakti.uniurb.it/eurex/syllabus/ lecture4/Eurex4-Vranken.pdf (2001) Wacquant, L.: Parias urbanos. Marginalidad en la ciudad a comienzos del milenio. Ediciones Manantial, Buenos Aires (2001) Wacquant, L.: Punire i poveri. Il nuovo governo dell’insicurezza sociale. Derive Approdi, Roma (2006) Wacquant, L.J.: Urban Outcasts: A Comparative Sociology of Advanced Marginality. Polity Press, Cambridge (2008) Wacquant, L.: Homines in Extremis: what fighting scholars teach us about habitus. Body and Society 20 (2014) Wetherell, M.: Affect and Emotion: A New Social Science Understanding. Sage, London (2012) Wimmer, A.: Ethnic Boundary-Making: Institutions, Power, Networks. Oxford University Press, Nueva York (2012) Wolf, A.: Does education matter? Myths about education and economic growth. Penguin, London (2002)

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Project of Education in Oral Health Caregivers and Residents of Centres of Unit Agreed with the Ministry of Equality, Health and Social Policies Alfredo Reinoso Santiago

Abstract Health starts with prevention and the fostering, in the field of oral health in our health clinics in Andalusia, and assistant staff have a shortage of knowledge about how to perform these activities. For this reason, a program of health prevention and awareness is being carried out. The main aim is has been to analyse the oral health quality of locals before and after the program, as well as determining the oral health indexes and the effectiveness of the aforementioned program; the specific objectives are detecting the needs for treatments of these patients and coordinate the needs for treatment at hospital level. Thanks to this study, today there are activities related to oral health awareness in centres for disabled people. Keywords Education of intellectually disabled people · Health promotion · Deontology dental · Adolescent, institutionalized

1 Introduction Oral health is an essential part of health and it has a significant impact on a person’s quality of life. Every day a growing part of the population is affected by oral diseases. The prevalence of cavities is higher than 50% (Lam 2014, pp. 26–30). The most common oral diseases are cavities, gingivitis, periodontitis, and all of these can be prevented. The programs of health prevention and awareness should be incorporated into the general national health strategy (Vodanovi´c 2013, pp. 251–254). That is why European Public Health should be fostered, implementing policies of improvement. Different odontology studies indicate that disabled patients have a worse dental health (Weng et al. 2011, pp. 588–592; Mouradian and Corbin 2003, pp. 1320–1326). In addition, many authors recommend health promotion for improvement, as well as the investigation of health awareness (Kay and Locker 1998, pp. 132–144).

A. R. Santiago (B) Servicio Andaluz de Salud, Distrito Sanitario Aljarafe Sevilla-Norte, Seville, Spain e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_14

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The disabled, institutionalized patients, their caretakers and their families find different barriers to access dental appointments, either for prevention or for treatment. On the one hand, the lack of information in the health clinics, or of their families, as well as the fact that many of them are unable to move and have a low self-esteem (Santucci and Attard 2015, p. 28). The dental surgeon training also lacks the specialized knowledge of treatment of these patients, which becomes an obstacle for both the patient and the caretaker (Mouradian 2001, pp. 821–831). The preventative actions in the early detection of cavities (Slayton 2005, pp. 30–35) and periodontal disease is fundamental for a good control of the illness. Also, treatments of fluoration prove to be effective in prevention (Werner et al. 2016, pp. 506–514). Dental diseases are an important burden for the system, but we must know that they are preventable. A dental treatment by itself do not eradicate a disease, but it is also necessary a change in the patient’s attitude and the prevention by dental health care professionals (Bracksley-O’Grady et al. 2015, pp. 584–591). Even when there exists a shortage of health promotion, it has been proven that starting it early is effective, being education the best tool (Euba et al. 2016, pp. 103–106; Almomani et al. 2009, pp. 648–652; Kay et al. 2016, pp. 313–330; Svarcova et al. 2016). The implementation of motivation, information and generating attitudes for health care among the caretakers of disabled patients who are institutionalized, will motivate patients, who will give more importance to oral hygiene (Khanagar et al. 2014, p. 122; Nicol et al. 2005, pp. 115–124). The attitude of the family is as important as the caretaker (Bracconi et al. 2016, pp. 83–89; Ramos-Gomez et al. 2014, pp. 1593–1603; Castilho et al. 2013, pp. 116–123) and to put in place an integral of prevention and promotion of oral health, there are some key aspects to take into consideration: education, instructions about health and primary and secondary preventative measures (Nakre and Harikiran 2013, pp. 103–115). Our study focuses on the promotion of the oral health of disabled patients who are institutionalized in the towns of Pilas, Sanlúcar la Mayor (towns in the province of Seville) and Chucena (in the province of Huelva). Carrying out training in oral hygiene in patients, caretakers and relatives, as well as an assessment of the oral health condition and advice and instructions necessary to improve, they were reassessed annually over the period of five years, providing preventative advice and reinforcing hygiene and diet.

2 Methodology Main aim of the study was assessing the effectiveness of the promotion of oral health in disabled patients who are institutionalized and the improvement of their dental health after implementing the program. Type of study was: Experimental before-after, visiting the health clinics annually over a period of five years. The disabled portion of the population included in the

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study moved from the centres where they were institutionalized to the Basic Zone of Pilas-Sevilla (Spain), being these centres Torre del Rey, in the town of Pilas, with 23 patients, Las Viñas in the town of Chucena (Huelva), which belongs to the Basic Zone of Pilas too, with 88 patients. The centre Adefisal, in Sanlúcar La Mayor, was also included with a number of 85 patients, out of which 3 were excluded because of mental disease. The authors set following criteria for inclusion: The criteria for exclusion were serious mental disease, in those patients whose disease limits their participation in the study. The possibility of leaving of the health centre due to a change of residence was also taken into consideration. It was estimated, from previous years, in around 5%. In the centre Torre del Rey, 31 patients stayed and no one was excluded because of mental disease. In the health centre Las Viñas, 22 patients were excluded because of serious mental disease which prevented the collaboration of the patients and of their caretakers. And 3 patients left the centre because of change of residence. In the centre Adefisal, 14 were excluded and 4 left the centre. In the ethical committee, it was decided that all new patients would be assisted, but they would not be included in the study. The total number of patients in the study is 161. As for the caretakers, in the health centre Torre del Rey, they all (4 of them) as well as the Director showed collaborated the director. In the centre Las Viñas, four assistants and one nurse. In the Centre Adefisal all the caretakers (5 and the Director and Senior Director): The total number of caretakers in the program for the promotion of oral health was 16 (77%). As for the families, they participated in the audio-visual presentations about the teaching of oral hygiene and the teaching of dental care, existing variability among the centres. In the health centre Torre del Rey there was a participation of around 98%, in the health centre Adefisal around 90% and in the health centre Las Viñas around 50%, which is related to the distance to the families’ homes. A first visit was made with the directors of the centres to present the study and to hand in the consent forms to both the health centres and the patients. There was a first visit, an assessment of the dental health condition of patients, registering the variables on paper.

2.1 Variables Independent variables were: Age; sex; smoking; type of disability (in relation to other diseases of the patient). Dependent variables were: Objective oral hygiene: qualitative variable, in bad (0) or good (1). • Dental plaque: with absence of plaque, not visible, but removed with catheter, moderate visible plaque, abundant plaque (number criteria 0–1–2–3). • Collaboration of the patient during the exploration of mouth and teeth. • Possibility of being assisted in dental clinics without need of deep sedation.

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• • • •

Number of teeth with cavities—odontogram. Number of missing teeth. Periodontal community index (IPC). Lesions of the oral mucosae described as benign, precancerous, or possible neoplastic, according to the criteria of the who and described by Axell. • Dental Malocclusions, described by Angle in anteroposterior sense, transversely—cross or box—and to previous level—overjet, highlight, bite open.

2.2 Afterwards Sessions Afterwards, there were sessions of promotion of oral health with different groups: • Group of patients: Oral-visual communication in power-point about oral hygiene, types of brushes, floss, fluoride toothpaste; use of antiseptics, chlorhexidine; oral care and cariogenic diet. Teaching oral hygiene with a regular and an electric toothbrush in disabled patients. • Relatives: Oral-visual communication of the oral health condition of disabled patients who are institutionalized. Oral hygiene and care. Visits were repeated every year, seeing patients first, writing down variables. Communications were made to all groups, reinforcing the promotion of oral and dental health care. Reports were given to patients and relatives about the condition of their dental health and the need of odontology treatments.

3 Analysis of Results Dependent variables: Oral hygiene, qualitative measure good/bad. The first year 2012, there was only exploration, without carrying out education or teaching of oral health (Tables 1 and 2, Fig. 1).

Table 1 Participation de patients: 161 Centros

Total institutionalized

Torre del Rey

33

Las Viñas

88

Adefisal

85

14

Source Own elaboration

Excluded

Lost

Total study

0

2

31

22

3

63

4

67

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Table 2 Participation of caretakers: 17 Centros

Assistants

Nurses

Directors

Total

Torre del Rey

4

0

1

5

Las Viñas

4

1

0

5

Adefisal

5

0

2

7

Source Own elaboration

Fig. 1 Distribution among sexes and smokers. Source Own elaboration

3.1 First Assessment In the first assessment of the oral hygiene, those who fell into value one were those who brushed their teeth at least once a day at night, cleaned their prosthesis once a day, hygiene by caretakers to patients with enteral nutrition once a day, either with or without fluoride toothpaste. To fall into value zero: those patients who brushed, but forgot, and did not brush daily in a steady, constant manner; no daily brushing of the dental prosthesis; no brushing by caretakers to patients with enteral nutrition or tetraplegic patients, or patients whose disability prevented them from using the toothbrush (Table 3).

Table 3 Distribution of variables of oral hygiene oral by age Centro

Hygiene

2012 (%)

2013 (%)

2014 (%)

2015 (%)

2016 (%)

Torre del Rey

Good (1)

55

85

87

90

90

Bad (0)

45

15

13

10

10

Las Viñas

Good (1)

30

55

58

60

55

Bad (0)

70

45

42

40

45

Good (1)

48

80

82

85

85

Bad (0)

52

20

18

15

15

Adefisal

Source Own elaboration

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3.2 After the First Visit After the first visit, there were training sessions about oral health care in the different groups. The difference among centres was attributed to the diversity of pathologies in the disabilities, being more invalidating and dependents upon their caretakers in the health clinic Las Viñas, where patients were interns, and being best in the health clinic Torre del Rey, with less invalidating disabilities which prevented them from performing their daily activities and a smaller number of patients in relation to the number of caretakers. Collaboration in the dental exploration: variability over the years did not changed much, being between 92 and 96%. Determined by their disability. No collaboration for the performance of oral treatments in dental clinics, requiring deep sedation at hospital level; qualitative variable, yes/no. Variability in years was rare, 6–8% (determined by the evolution the disability) (Tables 4 and 5). The results in dental plaque, after carrying out the program over the years, were similar after the training sessions in Oral Health Care. In relation to the index of cavities, the results of with and without cavities were unified (in odontogram -32- with cavity -1-, healthy -0-, missing -1-), the numeric result is the average in each centre, presenting all of them 88% of missing or presence of cavities or both (Table 6, Fig. 2).

Table 4 Indexes of plaque in first visit Centre

No plaque (0)

Plaque not visible (1)

Moderate plaque (2)

Plenty of plaque (3)

Torre del Rey (31)

12

10

5

4

Las Viñas (63)

15

32

4

12

Centro Adefisal (67)

20

23

18

6

Source Own elaboration Table 5 Index of plaque after advice, education in oral health care and therapeutic advice Centre

No plaque (0)

Plaque not visible (1)

Moderate plaque (2)

Plenty of plaque (3)

Torre del Rey (31)

21

10

1

0

Las Viñas (63)

22

35

4

2

Centro Adefisal (67)

48

12

7

0

Source Own elaboration

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Table 6 Rate of caries by year and centre Centre

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Torre del Rey

6.45

4.3

3.8

3.2

2.5

Las Viñas

9.42

8.2

6.8

6.2

6.1

Adefisal

6.4

5.2

4.8

4.1

3.2

Source Own Elaboration

Fig. 2 Caries rate. Source Own elaboration Table 7 Presence of dental malocclusions (in percent) Centre

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Torre del Rey

29.03

29.03

29.03

22.58

22.58

Las Viñas

38.09

38.09

38.09

38.09

33.33

Adefisal

31.34

31.34

25.37

25.37

25.37

Source Own elaboration

As for dental, malocclusions, noting as presence -1- or not alteration in the dental occlusion, being this in Type I of Angle, without any alteration at an anterior level -0- (Table 7). In the health clinic Torre del Rey, two patients had to undergo orthodontic treatments; three in Las Viñas. The mucosal lesions were sent to the department of Primary Odontology for them to be biopsied and studied; while he patients’ relatives, Health Clinic and caretakers were informed. In Adesifal, four patients underwent treatment.

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4 Conclusions The analysis of the statistical data in our study show that oral health programs in our clinics which involve not only patients, but also caretakers and relatives, have a positive impact. This program includes training in oral health, both in hygiene and in measures to promote health. Oral hygiene improves when we perform awareness activities with patients and provide them with guidelines, which contribute to their overall well-being. Action with caretakers and relatives is as important as action with patients, since many of them, either because of the disability or because of lack of knowledge, present a poor oral hygiene. A serious disability or the incapacity to use toothbrush contribute to a poor oral hygiene, since it leaves the actions in the hands of other people. This happens in the health clinic Las Viñas, where there are patients with serious disabilities, and, consequently, the results in oral hygiene are worse than in the other clinics. Patients with disabilities have the same needs as the general population, but we need actions to promote health in order to improve their oral health. In centres where patients with disabilities are institutionalized, care is provided by nurse practitioners, doctors and nurses, but there is no odontologist present in the clinic to promote health as well as to provide treatment. After the years of visits, we have detected these patients’ needs for care in the field of odontology, many of them requiring adaptation of their prosthesis, orthodontic treatments and general odontology treatments. At present, the Andalusian Health System (SAS) provided odontology interventions in hospitals with general sedation and odontology primary care, but it does not provide conservation or reconstructive interventions, which do not require deep sedation in patients with disabilities. The percentage for deep sedation is low in relation to the number of patients with disabilities. Also, we have detected a need for training professionals in the field of odontology in providing care to patients with disabilities and in odontologists with a private consultation. Dental malocclusions have a bigger index than the general population, which is why they would require treatment. Also, the absence of teeth would require reposition and the presence cavities would make treatment necessary for this group of patients.

5 Discussion Actions in the field of the promotion of health are essential for patients who are institutionalized. For this reason, the promotion of health in this type of centres is necessary in different medical specialties, such as Odontology. The intervention of the odontology’s working in the Public Health System is crucial to improve the results in overall well-being.

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The National Public Health System should provide a wider range of dental treatments, including conservative treatments, in the case of cavities; in prosthetic problems; or in problems of dental malocclusions providing orthodontic treatments. There are few studies of health promotion in centres where patients are institutionalized, since the Public Administrations assumes that their needs are covered by primary care, with family physicians. The field of Odontology has not been deeply explored by family physicians and there is a lack of knowledge in the subject. Acknowledgements I gratefully acknowledge all the caretakers, nurse practitioners, nurses, doctors and the directors of the health clinics who help me achieve the expected outcome.

References Almomani, F., Williams, K., Catley, D., Brown, C.: Effects of an oral health promotion program in people with mental illness. J. Dent. Res. 88(7), 648–652 (2009) Bracconi, M., Kheng, R., Pujade, C., Bdeoui, F., Landru, M.M., Gogly, B., Pirnay, P.: Oral hygiene prevention actions at Albert Chenevier hospital: open day for schools. Sante Publique 28(1), 83–89 (2016) Bracksley-O’Grady, S.A., Dickson-Swift, V.A., Anderson, K.S., Gussy, M.G.: Health promotion training in dental and oral health degrees: a scoping review. J. Dent. Educ. 79(5), 584–591 (2015) Castilho, A.R., Mialhe, F.L., Barbosa, T.D.S., Puppin-Rontani, R.M.: Influence of family environment on children’s oral health: a systematic review. J. Pediatr. (Rio J.) 89(2), 116–123 (2013) Euba, A., Paschos, E., Mattner, B., Storr, U.: Motivation for prevention in childhood as a basic for long-term dental health: the Augsburg model. Gesundeheitswesen 78(2), 103–106 (2016) Kay, E., Locker, D.: A systematic review of the effectiveness of health promotion aimed at improving oral health. Community Dent. Health 15(3), 132–144 (1998) Kay, E., Vascott, D., Hocking, A., Nield, H., Dorr, C., Barrett, H.: A review of approaches for dental practice teams for promoting oral health. Community Dent. Oral Epidemiol. 44(4), 313–330 (2016) Khanagar, S., Kumar, A., Rajanna, V., Badiyani, B.K., Jathanna, V.R., Kini, P.V.: Oral health care education and its effect on caregivers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices: a randomized controlled trial. J. Int. Soc. Prev. Community Dent. 4(2), 122 (2014) Lam, A.: Elements in oral health programs. N. Y. State J. 80(2), 26–30 (2014) Mouradian, W.E.: The face of child: children’s oral health and dental education. J. Dent. Educ. 65(9), 821–831 (2001) Mouradian, W.E., Corbin, S.B.: Addressing health disparities through dental-medical collaborations, part II. Cross-cutting themes in the care of special populations. J. Dent. Educ. 67(12), 1320–1326 (2003) Nakre, P.D., Harikiran, A.G.: Effectiveness of oral health education programs: a systematic review. J. Int. Soc. Prev. Community Dent. 3(2), 103–115 (2013) Nicol, R., Petrina Sweeney, M., McHugh, S., Bagg, J.: Effectiveness of health care worker training on the oral health of elderly residents of nursing homes. Community Dent. Oral Epidemiol. 33(2), 115–124 (2005) Ramos-Gomez, F.J., Silva, D.R., Law, C.S., Pizzitola, R.L., John, B., Crall, J.J.: Creating a new generation of pediatric dentists: a paradigm shift in training. J. Dent. Educ. 78(12), 1593–1603 (2014) Santucci, D., Attard, N.: The oral health-related quality of life in state institutionalized older adults in Malta. Int. J. Prosthodont. 28(4) (2015)

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Slayton, R.: Oral health promotion in children and adolescents. Compend. Contin. Educ. Dent. 26(5 Suppl 1), 30–35 (2005) Svarcova, I., Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Navratil, J.: Crisis management and education in health. In: The European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences (EpSBS), vol. XVI, pp. 255–261 (2016). https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2016.11.26 Vodanovi´c, M.: Prevention of oral diseases. Acta Med. Croatica 67(3), 251–254 (2013) Weng, R.H., Kung, P.T., Tsai, W.C., Chiang, H.H., Chiu, L.T.: The use of fluoride varnish and its determining factors among children with disability in Taiwan. Res. Dev. Disabil. 32(2), 583–592 (2011) Werner, H., Hakeberg, M., Dahlström, L., Eiksson, M., Sjögren, P., Strandel, A., Svanberg, T., Svensson, L., Wide Boman, U.: Psychological interventions for poor oral health: a systematic review. J. Dent. Res. 95(5), 506–514 (2016)

The Perception of Teachers on the Quality of Primary School Mathematics Textbooks in Oyo State, Nigeria Bolanle Oluyemisi Fagbola and Babatunde Oluwaseun Onasanya

Abstract Education is the backbone of national development, and books are the principal element in the educational process. Basic education is the foundation upon which all levels of societal development are predicated. Research works have indicated that textbooks deliver the curriculum and they are the most important instructional material available to the teachers and children in developing nations. Textbooks play a central role in the teaching and learning of mathematics. It is imperative that mathematics textbooks provide correct content and instructional support. They are also one of the most important and vital elements that aid effective and efficient teaching-learning process. However, there is ample evidence that the books used in schools in some parts of the world, Nigeria inclusive, are below standard. Difficult and poorly written textbooks in the primary schools were seen as contributing to the high rate of early drop-out in Nigeria. This study therefore evaluates the quality of mathematics textbooks in Oyo State, Nigeria. The ex-post facto type of descriptive survey research design was used. Multi-stage sampling technique was adopted to select 8 schools each from seven (7) of the eight (8) Educational zones (making a total of 56) in Oyo State. The study revealed that there is need for publishers and authors of textbooks to improve on print, quality of paper, illustration, exercises, diagrams, pictures, language, local example, colour combination, back cover, size, durability, presentation, font size, binding and finishing of mathematics textbooks. Keywords Curriculum · Public primary school · Quality textbooks

B. O. Fagbola National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria e-mail: [email protected] B. O. Onasanya (B) Department of Mathematics, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_15

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1 Introduction Nigeria is located in West African sub-region and with a growing population of about 120 million people comprising three major ethnic groups: the Yoruba’s from the south, Hausa’s from the north and Igbo’s from the east. Nigeria as a nation comprises 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Education at all levels is the responsibilities of both the Federal and States governments. The Nigerian educational system derives principally from the nation’s philosophy that seeks to enhance dignity, worth and self-actualization of every citizen. Primary education is the base of the educational pyramid on which the success (or otherwise) of other systems of education, by implication, manpower development, national advancement and growth, depend. Basically, the goal is to ensure the promotion of the physical, emotional and psychological development of all children, and acquisition of competencies necessary for self-reliance. Primary education is the core of development and progress in modern societies. Quality basic education cannot be isolated from quality textbooks published as a core input in education. Study has shown that better designed instructional materials would most likely have their greatest impact on low-performing students or those students with disabilities who are receiving most of their instructions in the classroom (Stein et al. 2001). Researchers have underlined the potentials of textbook projects as key vehicles for the cost-effective improvement on the quality of education (Altbach 1989; Altbach and Kelly 1988; Farrell and Heyneman 1989). Curriculum is the planned learning experiences by the school, which are directed at the learner to enable them acquire essential basic skills, competencies, knowledge and appropriate behavioural changes for effective functioning in the society. It is the traditional platform for translating the expectations of the society into knowledge, attitudes and skills that are expected to be developed or acquired by learners within the school system in formal and non-formal settings (Tanner and Tanner 1995; Gatawa 1990). Primary school pupils can have access to quality education through a well planned curriculum that is based on learning outcomes. The use of well designed textbooks or curriculum materials can positively influence teacher’s beliefs and practices and also aid curriculum implementation. It was claimed that textbook play a pivotal role in the quality of education especially in the developing world where often, “textbooks are the major—if not the only—definition of the curriculum” (Lockheed and Verspoor 1991). Primary school textbooks are part of the most important pedagogical elements used by primary school pupils to consolidate their learning. This is also supported by a recent research which made it clear that the textbooks are important and vital elements for effective and efficient teaching - learning process. Textbooks remain the essential tools for preserving and diffusing the world’s storehouse of knowledge and wisdom. Nigerian public primary school teachers generally use the government selected textbooks to organise their teaching. Textbooks command attention because they provide the basic source of the school instruction, transmit culture, reflect values

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and serve as springboards for the intellectual development of individuals and the nation (Aggarwal 2001). Globally, studies have shown that textbooks are routinely used in the classrooms (Lemmer et al. 2008; Ogan-Bekiroglu 2007; Kesidou and Roseman 2002). American Association of Advancement of Science (AAAS 2000) defined Mathematics as the science of patterns and relationship. It explores the possible relationship(s) among abstractions. The importance of primary education mathematics cannot be overemphasized. It is in the primary years that students from any part of the world learn the concepts of number, numeration, shapes and figures, and basic measurement skills among other basic mathematical skills (Becker et al. 2004). We live in a global village where being numerate is the key to being able to communicate, trade and compete with others in a meaningful way. Mathematics plays a crucial role in enabling us to have access to technological ideas which play an essential role in enabling us to communicate effectively. Mathematics is often called ‘the language of science’, because it enables the young as well as the older scientist to generalise, summarise and communicate in clear and concise mathematical terms, formulations and equations. This is a great asset, and one more reason to insist on letting the children to wisely apply, grow and develop in this most useful subject. The teaching of mathematics relies on textbooks more than any other subject area (Hoskova-Mayerova 2011). Textbooks are important elements of teaching mathematics in the classroom, in Nigeria and other countries of the world. Throughout history, mathematics textbooks have been synonymous with mathematics education (Fauvel 1991; Gray 1990; Love and Pimm 1996). The mathematics textbooks were, and indeed are still, considered to be one of the most important tools in this context. Textbooks are used in up to 90% of mathematics lessons and the mathematics textbooks are often the teacher’s sources of content, sequencing and instructional activities and ideas for lessons (Reys et al. 2004). The mathematics textbook was, and still is, considered to be one of the most important tools in this context. In a recent study, it was shown that more than 21% of the respondent “reads or downloads online books or e-books” but it was asserted (Howson 1995) that new technologies have not affected the outstanding role of textbooks. It was argued that the learners do not engage with the textbook on their own terms in a classroom, but experiences the textbook as a support to their learning as mediated by the teacher (Luke et al. 1989). The literature provides evidence of the significant role of textbooks as primary vehicles for delivering content knowledge, for determining in large measure what goes on in a class (Lebrun et al. 2002), and for assessing what students do and do not learn (Freeman and Porter 1989). Textbooks were identified as playing an important role in making the leap from intentions and plans to classroom activities, by making content available, organizing it, and setting out learning tasks in a form designed to be appealing to learners (Schmidt et al. 1997). Textbooks served as intermediaries in turning intentions into implementations. They helped make possible one or more potential implementations of mathematics curricular intentions (Schmidt et al. 1997, p. 178). Researchers

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such as Taylor (2008), Pandor (2006), Singer and Tuomi (2003), Ansary and Babaii (2002), Goldsmith et al. (2000) avers that the utilisation of high quality textbooks can contribute much in supporting learners in the learning process, as well as supporting teachers in their instruction and their professional development. The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) carried out national assessment in 2001 and 2003. These were criterion reference test based on curriculum items from four core subjects in the primary school (English, mathematics, primary science and social studies). Test were administered at grade levels 4, 5 and 6. Results from the UBEC curriculum based national assessment of grade level 5 pupils in 2001 indicated that only one in five students were able to answer correctly more than 30% of the test items. Having seen the role that mathematics textbooks play in the teaching and learning process, this study was therefore designed to assess the quality of primary school mathematics textbooks through the perception of teachers using the following quality indicators: Contain major content in the curriculum, local example, language, exercises, illustrations, pictures, diagrams, colour combination, font size, bold print, quality of paper, durability and binding (Svatonova and Hoskova-Mayerova 2017).

2 Objectives of the Study The main objective was to ascertain teachers’ perception on the quality of recommended mathematics textbooks in meeting teaching and learning objectives as indicated in the curriculum. Research questions (a) What is the level of conformity of the textbook content to the curriculum? (b) What is level of textbook quality in terms of font size, bold print, quality of paper, durability and binding? (c) What is the perception of teachers on the language and local examples in primary school mathematics textbooks? (d) What is the perception of teachers on the quality of illustrations, diagrams, pictures and colour combination in mathematics textbooks?

3 Methodology of the Study Descriptive survey research design was used for this study. Multi-stage sampling technique was adopted for the selection of schools. There eight (8) educational zones in Oyo State (Ogbomoso, Ibarapa, Ibadan City, Ibadan Less City, Oyo, Iseyin and Saki). Seven (7) out of these were used in the survey. As a matter of fact, eight (8) schools from each of these seven (7), making a total of fifty six (56) were used.

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Data were collected through questionnaires which were administered to all the primary five teachers in the selected schools. To make the data collected more meaningful and easy to interpret, percentage and frequency tables were drawn based on the various items of the research instrument. In some cases, χ2 was used to test the significance differences in the opinión of teachers concerning some of the parameters.

4 Result and Discussion Quality is defined as fully satisfying agreed customer requirements at the lowest internal price. It is often used to signify excellence of a product or service. A quality textbook should be acceptable; as attractive as other textbooks to hold attention; of high quality, well presented and lavishly illustrated; be up to date; available on time; have a clear role in course design with appropriate and recognized author’s credentials, able to encourage students to learn. The intended curriculum is the national policies reflecting societal visions, educational planning for the educational objective in mathematics education (Schmidt et al. 1997). Figure 1 reveals that 49% of the respondents judged the Mathematics textbooks as containing major content in the curriculum while 39% reveal that the local examples that were used in the mathematics textbooks are good. These show emphatically how the primary teachers see the primary school mathematics textbooks’ conformity to the curriculum, the extent to which the mathematics textbooks meet pre-set standard, education policies, curriculum guidelines and objectives, national ideology and culture among others. Conformance of these textbooks with curriculum policy will aid the teaching-learning process and provision of quality basic education which will affect the production of manpower in the country. At both the levels of significances of 0.01 and 0.05, and computed χ2 of 2.16, it was established that there is a significant difference in the perception of teachers on “Contain major content in the curriculum” (CMC) and “local example”. Curriculum is the main course of action that can ensure the supply of effective and efficient human resource for the development of a nation and a progressive society. Quality indicators

Good

Ranking nd

Poor

Book not in use

Contain major content 49 in the curriculum (CMC)

2

5

47.3

Local example

Ist

9.3

48

39

Fig. 1 Percentage distribution of teachers’ perception on the Curriculum content and Local examples in primary school mathematics textbooks

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Review of textbooks based on field-testing and research will yield results leading to quality textbooks. Stein et al. (2001) avers that better designed instructional materials would most likely have their greatest impact on low-performing students or those students with disabilities who are receiving most, of their instruction in the general education classroom. Results from the field indicated that there is the need for proper evaluation and field testing of primary school textbooks before they are adopted. Furthermore, based on the assessment of the teachers, the local examples were not enough. There is need for improvement on the textbooks by including more local examples. Authors of mathematics textbooks need to use articles or objects that children are familiar with in order to enhance their understanding of mathematics. Figure 2 indicated that 47.3% of the teachers perceived that the exercises in the mathematics textbooks are good while 44.6 reveal that the language is good. This result shows that exercises in the mathematics textbooks need to be improved upon. The language used must also be such that helps pupils to understand mathematics and also create interest in the subject. Words play an important role in mathematics education. The ability of the pupils to comprehend the language that is used by authors of primary school mathematic textbooks affect their understanding of the subject and can either aid or discourage pupils. At both the levels of significances of 0.01 and 0.05, and computed χ2 of 0.43, it was established that there is a significant difference in the perception of teachers on “Language” (CMC) and “Exercises”. In order to solve a mathematics problem, pupils must be able to process the related verbal information, that is, words and symbolic language (Douville et al. 2003). Three tensions occur in multilingual mathematics classrooms: between mathematics and language; between using formal and informal language to talk about mathematics; and between the learners’ home (or first) language and the official language of the school. What appears to be significant is the level of proficiency which multilingual learners have in all (or any) of their languages with low levels of proficiency putting the learners at a cognitive disadvantage and high levels of proficiency in more than one language indicating cognitive advantage (Cummins 2010). The overall low performance of students in the achievement test carried out by UBEC was attributed to the low level of student’s ability to read the test papers particularly in mathematics. It was observed that student scores were highest on non-worded numeracy test items and scores were lowest on the literacy tests. That is

Quality indicators

Good

Ranking

Poor

Book not in use

Language

44.6

2nd

8.6

39.0

47.3

st

6.3

47.6

Exercises

I

Fig. 2 Percentage distribution of teachers’ perception on the Language and Exercises in primary school mathematics textbooks

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students’ scores for numeracy were much higher on the non-worded numeracy test items than on the worded numeracy test items. Result of Fig. 3 showed that 45.6% of the respondents asserted that the illustrations in the mathematics textbooks are good. Some of the respondents (12%) indicated that the pictures used by publishers of these mathematics textbooks were poor. This means that the right approach to illustrating children textbooks is not well acquired by some the authors and the publishers of these books. The degree to which illustrations are related to and reinforce the surrounding text is one of the most important characteristics of an effective textbook design. However, authors and publishers can improve on the quality of illustrations in these textbooks. Illustrations in any children’s book enhance its quality and readability. According to Alley (1994), illustrations can be a powerful aid to memory. King (1991) sees illustrations as descriptive matters devised to enhance understanding. Good illustrations can contribute to the overall development of the child by stimulating his imagination, arousing his perception and developing his potential. One of the ways of achieving reading habit in children is by making books fascinating to them through good cover design and attractive illustrations inside (Banjo 1999). Children learn and comprehend better when a book is copiously illustrated. The quality of the diagrams, pictures or drawing used must conform to the common day-to-day experience that are concrete and can be easily understood by the children (Figs. 4 and 5). The quality of the printing, trimming, binding and the kind of paper used for the production of children’s textbooks are very important. The quality of production would determine how attractive the book would be to the users and how long the book will last in the hands of youngsters. Forty-eight percent of the respondent indicated that the quality of paper used by publishers for the production of the primary school mathematics textbooks was good. While 47.6% indicated that the textbooks have good bold print.

Quality indicators

Good

Ranking

Poor

Book not in use

Illustration

45.6

Ist

Diagrams

43.6

7

48.3

nd

9.3

48

rd

2

Pictures

42

3

12

47

Colour combination

45

4th

8.6

47.3

Fig. 3 Percentage distribution of teachers’ perception on the Illustrations, Diagrams, Pictures and Colour combination in primary school mathematics text

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Quality indicators

Good

Ranking

Poor

Book not in use

Font size

43.6

4th

9.3

48.0

Bold print

47.6

2nd

5.0

47.6

Quality of paper 48.3

Ist

5.6

47.0

Durability

44.3

3rd

8.6

47.6

Binding

41.3

5th

12.3

47.3

Fig. 4 Percentage distribution of teachers’ perception on the Font size, Bold print, Quality of paper, Durability and Binding in primary school mathematics textbooks Fig. 5 Percentage perception on ‘Good’ Font size, Bold print, Quality of paper, Durability and Binding

5 Conclusion The importance of textbooks as a core material in the teaching and learning process to transmit knowledge, skills, attitudes and values cannot be over emphasised. Textbooks must be written in such a way that meets the needs of pupils. The performances of pupils in mathematics can be improved if pupils are exposed to quality textbook that can create in them the interest and love for mathematics as a subject. Publishers and authors of textbooks should consider the following factors when choosing type for primary mathematics textbooks: Legibility and readability of type, suitability of the colours, age groups, the length of text, and the size of the book. Mathematics textbooks should also be designed to satisfy the needs of the pupils. Acknowledgements The authors appreciate the support of the members of staff of both the Department of Mathematics, University of Ibadan and the Library, National Horticultural Research Institute.

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References Aggarwal, J.C.: Principles, methods and techniques of teaching, 2nd edn. Vikas publishing house Pvt Ltd., New Delhi (2001) Altbach, C.P.: Textbook: the international dimension. CUHK Educ. J. 17(2), 114–127 (1989) Altbach, P.G., Kelly, G.P.: Textbooks in the third world: an overview. In: Altbach & Kelly (eds.) Textbooks in the Third World: Policy, Content And Context, pp. 3–17 (1988) Banjo, A: Publishers as members of the academic community. The Publisher 6, 36–37 (1999) Becker, J.P., Hasemann, K., Polaki, V.: DG 18: Current Problems and Challenges in Primary Mathematics Education. http://www.progettoaral.it/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/2004_ICME10dg18_ eng.pdf (2004). Accessed 01 Mar 2013 Cummins, J.: Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Multilingual Matters, Clevedon (2010). ISBN 1-85359-474-1 Douville, P., Pugalee, D.K., Josephine, W., Corey, R.L.: Investigating the Effectiveness of Mental Imagery Strategies in a Constructivist Approach to Mathematics Instruction. www.math.unipa. it/~grim/SiDouville.PDF (2003). Accessed 12 Dec 2017 Farrell, J.P., Heyneman, S.P.: Textbooks in the Developing World: Economic and Educational Choices (1989). ISBN 0-8213-1219-7 Fauvel, J.: Tone and the teacher: instruction and complicity in mathematics textbooks. In: Pimm, D.L. (ed.) Teaching and Learning School Mathematics. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, London, pp. 111–121 (1991) Freeman, D.J., Porter, A.C.: Do Textbooks dictate the content of mathematics instruction in elementary schools? Am. Educ. Res. J. 26(3), 403–421 (1989) Gatawa, B.S.M.: The Politics of the School Curriculum: An Introduction. Jongwe Press, Harare (1990) Gray, E.: The primary mathematics textbook: intermediary in the cycle of change. In: Pimm, D.L. (ed) Teaching and Learning School Mathematics, Hodder and Stoughtonm Ltd, London, pp. 122–136 (1990) Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Operational programm “Education for Competitive Advantage”, preparation of study materials for teaching in english. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 15, 3800–3804 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.04.376 Howson, G.: Mathematics Textbooks: A Comparative Study of Grade 8 Texts, vol. 3. Pacific Educational Press, Vancouver (1995) Kesidou, S., Roseman, J.E.: How well do middle school science programmes measure up? Findings from Project 2061’s curriculum review. J. Res. Sci. Teach. 39(6), 522–549 (2002) Lebrun, J., Lenori, Y., Laforest, M., Larose, F., Roy, G.R., Spallanzani, C., Pearson, M.: Past and current trends in the analysis of textbooks in a Quebec context. Curriculum Inq. 32(1), 51–83 (2002) Lemmer, M., Edwards, J.-A., Rapule, S.: Educators’ selection and evaluation of Natural Science textbooks. S. Afr. J. Educ. 28, 175–187 (2008) Lockheed, M., Verspoor, A.: Improving the Quality of Primary Education in Developing Countries, Complete Report in English. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/279761468766168100 (1991). Accessed 12 Dec 2017 Love, E., Pimm, D.: ‘This is so’: a text on texts. In: Bishop, A.J., Clements, K., Keitel, C., Kilpatrick. J., Laborde, C. (eds.) International Handbook of Mathematics Education. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. 371–409 (1996) Luke, C., DE Castell, S., Luke, A.: Beyond criticism: the authority of the school textbook. In: DE Castell, S., Luke. A., Luke, C. (eds.) Language, Authority and Criticism: Readings on the School Textbook, pp. 250–258 (1989) Ogan-Bekiroglu, F.: To what degree do the currently used Physics textbooks meet the expectations? J. Sci. Teacher Educ. 18, 599–628 (2007) Reys, B., Reys, R., Chaves-Lopez, O.: Why mathematics textbooks matter. Educ. Leadersh. 61(5) (2004)

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Schmidt, W.H., McKnight, C.C., Raizen, S.A.: A Splintered Vision: An Investigation of U.S. Science and Mathematics Education. Kluwer Academic Press, Boston/Dordrecht/London (1997) Stein, M., Stuen, C., Carnine, D., Long, R.M.: Textbook evaluation and adoption. Pract. Read. Writ. Q. (2001). www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/105735601455710. Accessed 15 Sept 2010 Svatonova, H., Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Social aspects of teaching: subjective preconditions and objective evaluation of interpretation of image data. In: Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Maturo F., Kacprzyk J. (eds.) Mathematical-Statistical Models and Qualitative Theories for Economic and Social Sciences. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol. 104. Springer, https://doi.org/10. 1007/978-3-319-54819-7_13 (2017) Tanner D., Tanner, L.: Curriculum Development: Theory into practice, 3rd edn. Englewood cliffs (1995)

Training Requirements of the Andalusian Volunteer Program José Luis Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano, María Pérez Lagares and Laura Pacheco Montero

Abstract The research presented in this chapter focuses on the analysis of training requirements in volunteering, with reference to the autonomous community of Andalusia. Through the analysis of data acquired via various collection techniques, insight into differing perspectives of the agents involved in the world of volunteering may be gained. This research begins with a critical evaluation into the existence of people who spend part of their free time tackling situations which should be the responsibility of governmental administrations, however its absence makes solidarity a value on the rise which requires these altruist actions to be responsible, trained and critic. Keywords Education · Volunteering · Andalusia · Needs · Society · Association · Participation

1 Introduction The action of volunteering is growing in modern society, based upon citizens’ right of participation along with the solidarity and selflessness that volunteers show in their day to day lives. When different local and public administrations, along with provincial and national organisations assign competences for this social movement, they must take responsibility for the training, research and coordination of policies in the area of volunteering, highly boosting organised social movements.

J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano (B) · M. Pérez Lagares · L. Pacheco Montero Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain e-mail: [email protected] M. Pérez Lagares e-mail: [email protected] L. Pacheco Montero e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_16

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In our autonomous community, Andalusia, we have the Law 7/2001 on Voluntary Work in Andalusia,1 in article 19.1.k, which remarks in its content to promote the development of studies and research on volunteering. Likewise, in the Fourth Andalusian Plan on Volunteering (2017–2020),2 inside its third strategic axis on best practices and management by results of the organised volunteer action, it establishes as fundamental content of the same the research on participation, community initiatives, partnership and volunteering (p. 36). To the same extent, inside the fourth axis on promotion of social and community innovations, it suggests as a new action the promotion of research on volunteering (p. 45). The research presented on training requirements in the world of volunteer participation reflects a specific reality: integral training of solidarity people and the rest of the members of the NGOs of organised volunteer action has to be promoted. Training is a key part for a responsible, effective and efficient volunteer action and the same has to be assumed by the public administration, as the lack of training staff, room and venue resources for teaching knowledge that improves volunteer intervention and the lack of audio-visual didactic means provoke that except from big NGOs, federations or coordinators, most of the partner entities with solidarity action prioritise volunteer training but they launch it with a lack of resources.

2 Social Movements Volunteering is not spontaneous or individualistic. The volunteer is a part of an organisation, that is to say, an association or entity that locates him into a frame of projects that it develops, and thus we have considered it interesting to lay this reality at the foundation of the volunteer analysis. The epistemological issue that arises in the study of social movements is the same as the problem that arises in other fields of sociology in general. The lack of a precise definition of this concept does not allow us to differentiate social movements from other collective phenomena and slows the development of a field that is more and more important every day. The increase of an interest on social movements that have arisen in the last three decades has reinforced the efforts to enclose the vast field of phenomena that respond to the name of social movement (Laraña 1999, p. 67). In Spain, the evolution of social movements is, as many other questions, related to the Civil War. Before the War, there were classic social movements with peculiar characteristics, as it was the strong influence of the anarchist movement. After the war, in the late Francoist period, some neighbourhood associations reached a great development, as due to the reigning dictatorial regime, they led the way in the fight for democracy. As Castells remarks, social movements in Spain have legitimised the proposals and organisation of tens of thousands of neighbours, have improved the

1 Ley 2 IV

7/2001 “de Voluntariado de Andalucía”. Plan Andaluz de Voluntariado (2017–2020).

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living standards and have created a social life network, having been a very effective instrument in the conquest and development of democracy (Malagón 1999, p. 176). It is defined as new social movements those entities of volunteer character rooted on citizen movements, they work autonomously and they intervene in society or the community improving the social welfare of the said community. Their characteristics are: – – – – –

They lack a democratic structure, or it has little weight. Greater openness to the outside world. Lack of rates or very low or symbolic rates. A strong claiming component. Permanent fight against the system or against some measures or policies of the system. – They arise in punctual moments. Whereas classical social movements are defined by the “association” of individuals to defend economic, political and social interests, in the new social movements the key concept is the one of “sociability”. Sociability is an open notion that hints at the irrational “all power to the imagination”, at the sentimental and affective. It is for this reason that new social movements lack of a rigid structure within their organisation is different to the design of classic political parties.

3 Voluntary Action in Spain A volunteer can be defined as a person that, abiding the Law 45/2015, of the 14th of October, of Volunteering3 and the Law 7/2001 (Volunteer Law in Andalusia),4 possesses the following characteristics: – – – –

A selfless and solidary character. Free motivation to carry out the action. Lack of monetary compensation. Carried out by means of its participation inside an organised entity, in compliance with specific programmes.

As it is shown in the Law 45/2015 of the 14th of October, of Volunteering in Spain,5 in its article 6, the acting areas of the volunteer programme are the following: – Social volunteering: it is done through the intervention of people and the social reality with respect to vulnerable situations, privation or lack of rights and opportunities to reach a better living standard and a greater cohesion and social justice.

3 Ley

45/2015, de 14 de octubre, de Voluntariado. 7/2001 (Ley de Voluntariado de Andalucía). 5 Ley 45/2015 de 14 de octubre, de Voluntariado en España. 4 Ley

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– International volunteering of development cooperation: linked to education for development as a part of the educative and transformation process, as to the promotion for the development of what is relative to humanitarian action and international solidarity, it being done in our country, in countries and territories receptors of cooperation for development or whichever country that declares a situation of humanitarian necessity, with no prejudice of the activities performed in this field by cooperating partners. – Environmental volunteering: seeks to diminish the negative footprint of the human being on the environment and to place value on the existing natural heritage, animal and vegetal species, ecosystems and natural resources performing, among others, actions to protect and recover the flora and fauna, the natural biodiversity of different habitats and the defence of the forest and whatever other actions that contribute to protect, conserve and improve the environment. – Cultural volunteering: promotes and defends the right of access to culture and particularly the cultural integration of every person, the promotion and protection of cultural identity, the defence and safeguarding of cultural heritage and the engagement in the cultural life of the community. – Sport volunteering: contributes to the citizen and social cohesion, adding the natural values of volunteering with those inherent to sport, betting firmly in fostering the community dimension in the development of sport activities in whatever its manifestations, including volunteering in the sports practiced by people with disabilities, and paying particular attention to the Paralympic. – Educative volunteering: solidary planned action and integrated in the system and the educative community to improve the possibility of performing extracurricular and complementary activities contributing, particularly, to compensate inequalities that could exist among the alumni because of social, personal or economic differences. – Public health volunteering: a combination of health promotion, illness prevention, healthcare assistance, rehabilitation and social attention, directed to the ensemble of society or to collectives in situation of vulnerability. – Leisure and free time volunteering: trains and raise awareness on the principles and values of volunteer action through the development of activities in the field of non-formal education. – Community volunteering: facilitates the betterment of the community and promotes engagement with a greater decision-making power and initiative to solve problems and demand greater living standards in the nearest vital spaces. – Civil protection volunteering: collaborates regularly in emergencies management, in interventions determined by the National System of Civil Protection6 with no prejudice of the duty of citizens in cases of a high risk, catastrophe or public calamity.

6 Sistema

Nacional de Protección Civil.

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The study performed by Research, Marketing and Opinion7 (IMOP) for the Volunteering Platform of Spain8 (PVE) in October 2015 reflects that the 36.1% of the Spanish population older than 14 cooperates in some way with NGOs and that a 7.9% is a volunteer. Keeping in mind the population data of the National Statistics Institute9 (on the 1st January 2015), the calculation indicates that in Spain, the number of volunteers older than 14 was of around 3.1 million (VV.AA. 2016, p. 10). Another piece of data worth mentioning is that among the volunteers there were more men than women, specifically an 8.6% more. In the data there are gender gaps that can be detected, defined by traditional roles, keeping in mind the greater percentage of women on social and educative volunteering and on the contrary, a greater percentage of male volunteers in the sport and international development cooperation (p. 8). With respect to age spans, the greater percentage of volunteers is from the 14 to 24. The 13.1% of young people of that age acknowledges that they volunteer on some organisations. On the contrary, those from 35 to 45 years belong to the age group that volunteers the least. Nonetheless, the study remarks this: The previous data do not reflect the compound of the volunteer community, where still more than its half (48%) is older than 45. That is to say, even though there is a bigger percentage of younger volunteers, that does not mean that they are actually more numerous in the ensemble. (p. 11)

4 The Motivation of Volunteering. Solidarity from a Critic Perspective Solidarity and volunteering are closely linked. Not that they are synonyms nor a concept necessary links us to the other, but it is fundamental to know that by means of solidarity we can get to volunteering and, in many occasions, volunteering is sustained on solidarity. But we should be warned that from volunteering and solidarity we have to have critical view, as what moves us to carry out actions searching for higher social welfare rates is to achieve that what we do selflessly for the other gets to be a right in the near future and consolidate in time. Solidarity in volunteering will never substitute the right to social welfare that has to be provided by the administration in any of its shapes (central, autonomic and local). In these pages, we advocate for the next idea: the educative administration on one side and the teachers on the other have to be able, by means of formal and nonformal education, to inculcate to our alumni that, more than the right to education, healthcare, voting, etc., we also have social rights that are covered from the public field to assist us in our needs of integration, coexistence, sociability, partnership …, so they become a reality. 7 Investigación,

Marketing y Opinión. del Voluntariado de España. 9 Instituto Nacional de Estadística. 8 Plataforma

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5 Methodology 5.1 Hypotheses The hypotheses considered for this study are the following: 1. Training requirements of volunteering are not completely covered by NGOs. 2. Training requirements of volunteering need more technical resources that the entities do not possess. 3. People that collaborate as volunteers have many issues with questions related to technical aspects in their interventions as volunteers.

5.2 Selection Sample and Procedure The volume of the population was facilitated by the Andalusian Volunteer Agency,10 that ran a previous study for that. The number of institutions that was facilitated was of 2672. It is worth mentioning that this database contained a series of mistakes, as it could be proven when the questionnaires were sent, despite taking into account the difficulties of the specificity of population in these kind of associations. The population of the following study was organised by provinces by means of the following Fig. 1. A stratified sampling has been applied contemplating the following strata: The city and the location of the association inside the capital or the province. The first of them was composed by eight substrata, the eight Andalusian provinces; and the second by two, capital or province. Considering these strata and the number of associations by province, we applied a stratified sampling for finite populations, that, assuming a margin of error of 1% and a confidence level of 0.95 it made us select a sample of 2093 (Fig. 2). For a random selection of the specific entities to send them the questionnaire, a software was created so that it could indicate random numbers that should be selected.

5.3 Tools for Data Collection The questionnaire for the study was anonymous and was made up of 40 items of diverse typology, as well as two items concerning the province in which the association was located and if its headquarter was located in an urban or rural area. Some required a close answer, a multiple choice answer or an open answer. The objective 10 Agencia

Andaluza del Voluntariado.

Training Requirements of the Andalusian Volunteer Program Strata Almería

City Region

Cádiz

City Region

Córdoba

City Region

Granada

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Huelva

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Jaén

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Málaga

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Sevilla

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Total

Total percentage

779

29.15

417

15.61

134

5.02

134

5.02

362

13.55

336

12.58

480

17.96

368

13.77

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Strata size Strata percentage 345

12.91

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16.24

122

4.57

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11.04

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38

1.42

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3.67

34

1.27

160

5.99

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7.56

69

2.59

267

9.99

112

4.19

32

1.20

332

12.43

36

1.35

2672

100

Fig. 1 Population of study. Source Own elaboration

City

Almería Cádiz Córdoba Granada Huelva Jaén Málaga Sevilla

Strata

Strata size

Sample size

Population size

2672

City

345

270

Error

1%

Region

434

340

Trust

95%

City

122

96

P

0.5

Region

295

231

Q

0.5

City

96

75

Region

38

30

City

98

77

Region

34

27

City

160

125

Region

202

158

City

69

54

Region

267

209

City

112

88

Region

32

25

City

332

260

Region

36

28

Sample size 2093

2093

Fig. 2 Stratified sampling of the associations. Source Own elaboration

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of the questionnaire was to collect information of the following dimensions: identification of the organisation (14 items); personal and institutional relationships (7 items); evaluation of training requirements (11 items) and the organisation of the entity’s resources (8 items).

6 Results of the Study 6.1 Results of the Questionnaires As it can be seen in Fig. 3, the greatest number of questionnaires was received from the provinces of Seville (f = 37; 21.8%), Cádiz (f = 25; 14.7%), Huelva (f = 25; 14.7%) and Almería (f = 21; 12.4%); provinces that, on the other hand, had a greater quantity of volunteer entities. It should be underlined that a great number of questionnaires did not reflect data to help locate its origin. As it is shown in Fig. 4, in general, the different entities develop their activities inside our geopolitical environment, highlighting activities focused on the local or provincial level. Not many entities develop activities at a national or international level. With respect to its area, it being rural or urban, where the volunteer entities that filled in the questionnaire are located, most of them (f = 143; 79.9%) have their registered office in urban areas. Concerning the number of offices, most of the volunteer entities indicated that they have an only office (f = 111; 69.8%), followed by a great distance to those that have 8 (f = 21; 13.2%). It is worth highlighting that these two options make up to the 83% of the whole distribution (Fig. 5).

Almería

Frequencies

Percentage

21

12.4

Cumulative percentage 12.4

Cádiz

25

14.7

27.1

Córdoba Granada Huelva Jaén

16 10 25 25

9.8 5.9 14.7 14.7

36.5 42.4 57.1 71.8

Málaga

11

6.5

78.2

Sevilla Total

37 170

21.8 100.0

100.0

Fig. 3 Number of questionnaires collected by province. Source Own elaboration

Training Requirements of the Andalusian Volunteer Program Geopolitical environment

Frequencies

Local Provincial Regional National International Total

65 63 40 13 9 190

Percentage

34.2 33.2 21.1 6.8 4.7 100.0

201 Cumulative percentage

34.2 67.4 88.4 95.3 100.0

Fig. 4 Scope of action of the entity. Source Own elaboration

Percentage

Cumulative percentage

111 6 3 3 3 1 21 4 2 1 1 1 1 1

69.8 3.8 1.9 1.9 1.9 .6 13.2 2.5 1.3 .6 .6 .6 .6 .6

69.8 73.6 75.5 77.4 79.2 79.9 93.1 95.6 96.9 97.5 98.1 98.7 99.4 100.0

159

100.0

Number of offices Frequencies

1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 12 13 21 22 47 Total

Fig. 5 Number of offices in Andalusia. Source Own elaboration

With respect to the age of the volunteers, the findings do not allow us to indicate a significant compound in the age of volunteers that develop activities in the Andalusian volunteer entities that that filled in the questionnaire. Concretely, the vast majority of volunteers in our study have an age range of 25–45, with an average age of 37. The most frequent ages have been the following: – – – – –

40 years (f = 16; 8.8%). 42 years (f = 14; 7.7%). 45 years (f = 12; 7.0%). 25 years (f = 11; 6.0%). 30 and 37 years (f = 10; 5.8%).

Volunteers do not normally have a fixed availability and it could be an impact and limitation to organise training plans and activities. In Fig. 6, we show our findings.

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Annual Biannual/Quarterly According to program duration According to the availability of volunteering Others Total

Cumulative percentage

34 5 30

18.7 2.7 16.5

18.7 21.4 37.9

101

55.5

93.4

12

6.6

100.0

182

100.0

Fig. 6 Commitment period of the volunteers. Source Own elaboration

Another item in the questionnaire focused on data collection with respect to the objectives achieved by the entity, being very limited those dedicated to just an objective, as the normal situation would be a combination of different objectives. In Fig. 7, you can see the frequencies and percentages obtained with respect to the same. In the area of volunteer training, the first thing we need to highlight is that the vast majority of volunteers possess university qualifications, and little is the number of those who do not have any kind of academic training. Just in a 12.4% of cases, the officials of the entities could not indicate the level of studies of their volunteers (Fig. 8). To the question of the main activity performed by volunteers outside their volunteer interventions, we show the findings in Fig. 9. Regarding the average time that the entity dedicates to volunteer training, the first thing that calls our attention is that a significant percentage of entities officials (f = 44; 25%) acknowledged they do not perform any kind of training activity. The rest of the options have similar positions. The results are shown in the following Fig. 10: With regard to the type of the main obstacles that volunteer entities officials encounter to develop training activities, the results are shown in Fig. 11. The opinions

Fig. 7 Objectives that the entity pursues. Source Own elaboration

F Social Services Sanitary protection services Education Culture Leisure and free time Community organizations Employment promotion Environment and ecology Cooperation for development Humanitarian aid Physical Education Total

% 250 97 50 36 47 10 6 12 11 9 12

46.3 18.0 9.3 6.7 8.7 1.9 1.1 2.2 2.0 1.7 2.2

540

100.0

Training Requirements of the Andalusian Volunteer Program

Universitary education Secondary education Primary education Without studies Not known/no response Total

203

Frequencies

Percentage

Cumulative Percentage

117

63.2

63.2

26

14.1

77.3

14

7.6

84.9

5

2.7

87.4

23

12.4

100.0

185

100.0

Fig. 8 Academic background of volunteers. Source Own elaboration Frequencies

Percentage

Cumulative percentage

Student Pensioner Unemployed Housekeeper Employee Others

52 20 8 8 65 11

31.7 12.2 4.9 4.9 39.6 6.7

31.7 43.9 48.8 53.7 93.3 100.0

Total

164

100.0

Activity

Fig. 9 Activities performed by the volunteer outside its volunteer activities. Source Own elaboration

Monthly Biannual Annual No training Total

Frequences

Percentage

Cumulative percentage

44 33 50 44

27.8 18.8 28.4 25.0

27.8 46.6 75.0 100.0

165

100.0

Fig. 10 Time dedicated to volunteer training. Source Own elaboration

of officials mainly refer to the “lack of budget” (f = 118; 44.7%), though it is true that we cannot deny that the rest of options show views we have to consider important, as “lack of experts”, that covers a percentage of the 22.7% (f = 60) of the distribution. With respect to the time availability of the volunteers to perform activities in the entity, the results are shown in Fig. 12. As we can observe, the 42.4% (f = 75) dedicate among 3–4 h a week, followed by the 39.0% (f = 69) that say to dedicate two hours.

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Obstacles to training activities. No facilities No experts Insufficient advertisement Insufficient fund Total

f 44 60 42 118 264

% 16.7 22.7 15.9 44.7 100

Fig. 11 Obstacles to training activities. Source Own elaboration

Frequences

Percentage

Cumulative percentage

2 hours From 5 to 6 hours From 3 to 4 hours More than 6 hours

69 15 75 18

39.0 8.5 42.4 10.2

39.0 47.5 89.8 100.0

Total

177

100.0

Volunteer time availability

Fig. 12 Disponibilidad horaria de los voluntarios. Source Own elaboration

7 Conclusions On the first place, the first significant idea obtained is the volunteer profile: between 25 and 45 years of age, with no fix availability, with university qualifications and working at the same time. Regarding the topic that we are concerned with, it is difficult to determine the general training requirements of the volunteer movement because of many reasons, among those we highlight: 1. 2. 3. 4.

The complexity and variability of the associative movement. The permanent evolution and fragmentation of these movements. Their mobility and instability, even for notification and location purposes. The temporariness of volunteers in different entities.

Nevertheless, among the weaknesses detected by means of this study, we can stress: – It is fundamental to create a dissemination campaign of the volunteer agencies, the Andalusian Volunteer Law11 and the Registry of Volunteer Entities of Andalusia,12 so that entities and also volunteers know their rights and duties with respect to volunteer action. This information, in any case, has to be regularly displayed to the rest of the society to raise awareness of volunteering. – The law has to be followed and with it the protection of volunteers, who in many cases do not know their rights and do not see those respected. 11 Ley

Andaluza del Voluntariado. de Entidades de Voluntariado en Andalucía.

12 Registro

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– Recruitment of volunteers to collaborate in a permanent and steady way, as well as to broaden the volunteer profile: a greater age range, personal and economic situation, etc. – Articulate volunteer activities in rural areas, where it is still underdeveloped. – Necessity to create training activities specific to volunteers, general as well as specific with respect to the actions they are going to perform. – Create specific spaces in public administrations, with the aid of new technologies, to store contents to train the volunteer staff and that could be useful to entities as well as particulars. – Lastly, highlight the need of volunteer entities that work in the same territory and that are in permanent contact and coordination to exchange information and experiences, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of their processes. By establishing some conclusions, we can confirm that there is a low grade of dynamism and coordination that is translated in ineffectiveness in the case of some entities. The dimension of these is too small and the existence of collaborative and project implementation networks is still emerging in this field. Competitiveness, understood as the effectiveness in service benefits and the development of projects and programs is directly linked to the size and number of existing networks, so the low partnership in the field limits the effectiveness of these volunteer activities. It is also worth mentioning the insufficient number of officially recognised organisations. At the same time, there is a lack of information and diffusion of volunteer interventions and its results. In many cases, there are limitations with regards to the general training in volunteers, as a large number of them does not know their rights and duties. In some other cases, the specific training in volunteer actions directed to a specific population area, sector in need of solidarity or situation (it can be social, related to sport, cultural, environmental, etc.) is highly deficient. Entities suffer as well from deficiencies in the field of human and material resources, public as well as private, directed to the development of activities performed by volunteers. These deficiencies are also present at the time of getting access to publications, manuals, didactic guides and similar materials for volunteer training. In this line, it is necessary that, together with long time planning, short time interventions have to be prioritised, giving more value to the areas and sectors in which the volunteer action will operate, so as to avoid the consequences of the effects already mentioned. It is fundamental to assess what is done by entities by means of organised volunteer action for the later intervention programming. This assessment action has to be performed from two complementary levels: internal, by means of the entity that performs the volunteer action and external, by means of the competent administration, being this essential to purge all those practices and attitudes that are contrary to the natural volunteer legislation. Our last references are directed to claim the need of establishing training activities for volunteers, since, as we can extract from our study, the diversity of activities they perform as well as their specific demands require to develop training plans and actions

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for the same. This plans have to be general as well as specific. General in a way that they can cover the training needs on law, safety, training related to volunteer issues, healthcare, its significance and social value, rights and duties of volunteers and the legal framework inside which it intervenes. And specific in regards of specific tasks that they have to perform. Lastly, we advocate for the necessity of having specific spaces inside the different administrations with audio-visual specific material to be used by entities that, lacking them, need them to train their volunteers. It is true that this study is a contribution of the reality of the field of training requirements in volunteering, but further research is needed to confirm the data we have used and, on the other hand, to look into training responses for the volunteer collective.

References Acuerdo de 17 de octubre de 2017, del Consejo de Gobierno, por el que se aprueba el IV Plan Andaluz del Voluntariado para el período 2017–2020. Boletín Oficial de la Junta de Andalucía núm. 205, Consejería de Igualdad y Políticas Sociales, Andalucía, España, 25 de octubre de 2017 Laraña, E.: La construcción de los movimientos sociales. Alianza, Madrid (1999) Ley 7/2001, de 12 de julio, de Voluntariado, Boletín Oficial del Estado núm. 188, Comunidad Autónoma de Andalucía, España, 7 de agosto de 2001 Ley 45/2015, de 14 de octubre, de Voluntariado. Boletín Oficial del Estado núm. 247, Jefatura del Estado, España, 15 de octubre de 2015 Malagón, J.L.: Fundamentos del Trabajo Social Comunitario. Anagrama Libros, Sevilla (1999) VV.AA.: Hechos y cifras del Voluntariado en España 2015. Plataforma del voluntariado en España, Madrid [online 20-11-2017]. Available online at http://www.fevocam.org/sites/default/files/pve_ hechos_y_cifras_del_voluntariado.pdf (2016)

MOOC in Higher Education from the Students’ Perspective. A Sustainable Model? Eloy López Meneses, Esteban Vázquez Cano and Isotta Mac Fadden

Abstract In this chapter we present a research that analyzes, from the perspective of university students, the positioning of MOOCs in the university panorama, determining their characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, and the main challenges to achieve sustainability. The research is based on a methodology based on virtual ethnography, and the qualitative analysis of university innovation experiences on the perception of 56 students who study “Information and Communication Technology” at the Pablo de Olavide University in Seville (Spain) following a Degree in Social Education corresponding to the academic year 2016–17. The results show that the main advantages of this type of courses are its wide offer, its open access, and the possibilities of accessing free audiovisual materials and establishing networks among the participating students. Main weaknesses are related to didactics and assessment: traditional teaching methods and little contact with teachers and tutors. As challenges that guarantee its sustainability and improvement in the future, five areas of intervention in the technological field are proposed: calibrated peer review, faculty-directed “studentsourcing” of responses to student questions, just-in-time teaching, recommendation systems and learning analytics. Keywords MOOCs · Higher education · Sustainable model · University students

E. López Meneses · I. Mac Fadden Pablo de Olavide University, Sevilla, Spain e-mail: [email protected] I. Mac Fadden e-mail: [email protected] E. Vázquez Cano (B) National University of Distance Education (UNED), Madrid, Spain e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_17

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1 Introduction In the formative setting of this 21st century the new mass education models have opened up in force, both free and open. These interactive, collaborative and online models increase and make universal access to higher education possible. The movement known by the English acronym MOOC (massive open online course) is based on learning platforms directed by the principles of ubiquity, self-assessment, modularity and video-simulation. The traditional notions of education-old and inflexible approaches to knowledge, limitation of access, imposed authority and a scientific rationalist, are being questioned in their base by a dynamic knowledge ecology that operates from new principles and more collaborative, interactive expectations and self-creation of knowledge. For teachers and students at the beginning of this century, new doors of knowledge are being opened that position the subject before the challenge of assuming an active and dynamic role in the construction of their own knowledge in collective intelligence/knowledge communities. A knowledge guided and oriented, but complex and open to its own ways of creation. This new type of training is a challenge for university institutions and their teachers, who must redefine the current methodological paradigm to enter new ways of designing more interactive, collaborative and ubiquitous educational materials, together with new forms of evaluation that are more dynamic and self-managed. For the university institution to be integrated into these new training spaces, it must adapt the formation of its study plans from a broader and diversified catalogue of subjects that allow students to create their own competency map within those of an academic field or professional world. In this way, the concept of diversified learning takes on all its meaning as opposed to the current uniformity of university programs. The tendency should be to offer open programs in direct relation with the labor, academic and professional world that position the students before the possibility of creating a training itinerary that adapts to the necessary competences in a changing and diversified labor world open to new tools and widely interconnected spaces. The market requires training to differentiate postgraduate students about others. Until now we have not been able to detect and evaluate skills and informal learning, even though these constitute the fundamental basis for the objective of lifelong learning, indicated by the European Union.

2 Educational Panorama of MOOCs in the University Sphere The term “MOOC” (Massive Open Online Course) was introduced in Canada by Dave Cormirer and Bryan Alexander who coined the acronym to designate an online course conducted by George Siemens and Stephen Downes in 2008. The course entitled: “Connectivism and Connective Knowledge” was carried out by 25 students who paid their tuition and obtained their degree, but it was followed in a small

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way and without accreditation by 2300 students and the general public through the Internet. One of its main characteristics is that the training is based on platforms of directed learning, from the principles of ubiquity, self-evaluation, modularity and video-simulation (Vázquez-Cano et al. 2013). In addition, it is a relatively recent phenomenon (Graham and Fredenberg 2015). In 2008, the worldwide phenomenon of MOOC appeared as an important development of online education (Mackness et al. 2010). They have also been considered by many researchers as a tsunami that is beginning to affect the traditional structure of university and training organization (Boxall 2012; Weissman 2012) or a revolution with great potential in the educational and training world. (Aguaded et al. 2013; Bouchard 2011). In the scientific literature, MOOCs are described as virtual environments of social connectivity over an area of study with an open didactic (Aguaded et al. 2016; McAuley et al. 2010; Vázquez-Cano et al. 2015). They also amplify access to training by offering learning opportunities regardless of affiliation to a particular institution (Durall et al. 2012), and may represent a turning point in Higher Education (López-Meneses 2017). The number of open and online mass courses (MOOCs) has grown exponentially in a few years since they were introduced (Bartolomé and Steffens 2015) and is the object of didactic and formative reflection among different authors (Zapata 2013; Ramírez-Fernández et al. 2015) and by Higher Education institutions in the globalized world (Haggard 2013). This type of training is an innovative model of mass education that paradigmatically exploits the potential and relevance of Information and Communication Technologies in society today (Pérez-Parra and Gómez-Galán 2015). MOOCs displace-some would say “outperform”—the hierarchical relationship between teachers and students, so that the learning process is shared (hence the references in the MOOC literature to the idea of a “distributed responsibility” in learning), and students also become generators of content and connections between different aspects of the course (Vázquez-Cano and López-Meneses 2014; Vázquez-Cano et al. 2015). In this sense, massive and open training poses a challenge for the university institutions and the teaching community that must redefine the current methodological paradigm to enter new, more open, interactive, collaborative and ubiquitous curricular forms, in symbiosis with a more dynamic evaluation, holistic and human inserted in more flexible and diversified curricula adapted to the work, ecosystem-to promote and facilitate the student’s implementation of their own competence itinerary for their academic and professional development (López-Meneses 2017). According to different authors (Gómez-Galán 2014; Kregor et al. 2013; Siemens 2013; Yuan and Powell 2013) one can state the following features of the MOOC: massive courses, i.e., in them can participate all students who wish to register, in principle without restrictions of any kind. They are scalable, not being exceptional those that have hundreds or thousands of people. The consideration of massive education refers both to the number of students that the course can receive and the possible impact it might have; students can create from it different subnets according to their geographical location, language, interest, etc. They are open since, in principle, they are accessible to all in a free way. They are available online (on-line) and all learning activities, content, communications, etc., are developed in a virtual environment. And, of course, these

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are courses, since they are structured in a temporary, orderly and sequenced manner, with a beginning and an end. Currently, in Higher Education, MOOCs are considered as the revolution in university education (Little 2013; Pappano 2012) and it is obvious that their use in the university scientific community can be an increasingly sustainable curricular option for the expansion of scientific knowledge and university practice in the new massive democratic learning scenarios (León-Urrutia et al. 2017). In addition, as discussed in (López-Meneses et al. 2015) there is an ascending increase of scientific articles related to this topic worldwide since 2013. In short, a MOOC is a way to learn, ideally it is an open, participatory, distributed course and a lifelong learning network, it is a path of connection and collaboration, and it is a shared work (Vizoso-Martín 2013). And as indicated by Gértrudix et al. (2017) they are being widely treated in the academic literature in a way that goes from bibliometric analysis that measures the representation of the concept in the scientific literature and, therefore, its interest as an object of study (Aguaded et al. 2016; López-Meneses et al. 2015; León-Urrutia et al. 2017; Rosicka and Hoskova-Mayerova 2014), the institutional policies that stimulate them (Hollands and Tirthali 2014) or the examination of their pedagogical quality (Aguaded and Medina-Salguero 2015; Roig-Vila et al. 2014), among other areas.

3 MOOC: Strengths, Weaknesses and Challenges The new didactic paths with the aim of learning to study in a massive way can constitute a new techno-social tendency, especially oriented in the panorama of Higher Education to stimulate university innovation, or simply to move towards a new business model for Universities and Institutions without a demonstrated quality (Zapata 2013; Vázquez-Cano et al. 2013; Rosicka and Hoskova-Mayerova 2013). Without forgetting, in line with Martín and González (2013) that there is still a deficit of research on the evaluation of this movement. Massive and open training is a challenge for university institutions and the teaching community that must redefine the current methodological paradigm to enter new curricular forms more open, interactive, collaborative and ubiquitous, in symbiosis with a more dynamic, holistic and human evaluation inserted in more flexible and diversified curricula adapted to the work ecosystem to promote and facilitate the students’ implementation of their own competence itinerary for their academic and professional development. In a first instance, the MOOCs in this panorama of open and free education arise as a need for specialization that does not entail accreditation or certification as a priority objective but that favors an approach to new labor and scientific realities that the proposals of regulated education more corseted cannot offer (Vázquez-Cano and López-Meneses 2015). This new modality of knowledge expansion can help the transformation of the classrooms, limited in time and reserved access to information on some occasions to social elite, to transcend to new ubiquitous, connective, informal, and horizontal learning scenarios. That can facilitate the digital inclusion

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of the most disadvantaged and the birth of interactive virtual communities of collective intelligence. Also, from a positive point of view, MOOCs, through a systematic development process, could help achieve a goal that has not been met so far. These formative tendencies could be used to generate initial and ongoing teacher training processes. The massive nature of this type of training can mark a before and after in the coverage of the needs of teachers, especially in Africa and Asia, where it is most needed (Silvia-Peña 2014). On the contrary, regarding the main challenges and difficulties of the MOOC movement, they arise from an essential questioning of the philosophy with which they were born (free and massive). These two adjectives characterize and confer specificity to this type of training, but its materialization makes it complicated in many cases that are combined effectively according to the pedagogical and economic approach from which they start. Schulmeister (2012) states that the critical points of MOOCs are summarized in: high dropout rates (Fidalgo et al. 2013); lack of feedback and low interaction; there is no reliable verification of learning outcomes and peer evaluations and a great diversity of topics predominates, but without an explicit curriculum. Also, voices have been presented that speak of a MacDonalization process of education through the distribution of standardized educational packages worldwide (Aguaded et al. 2013; Lane and Kinser 2013). Obtaining a degree from these new technologies from anywhere in the world can be the friendly face of a process of trans-nationalization of universities. We are not only talking about the export of knowledge that could be leveled to the processes of ideological and cultural domination, but now we are talking about the process of obtaining a degree or a degree in the different institutions that have their headquarters in Anglo-Saxon countries. Similarly, standardization can imply an excessive unidirectional approach to knowledge (Lane and Kinser 2012). In this sense, Chamberlin and Parish (2011) state that due to the large number of users enrolled in these courses it is difficult to carry out significant interactions and interactions for learning. Likewise, as it is a very recent training modality, there is no evidence of its functioning effectively (Cano et al. 2015). Also, different authors (Calderón et al. 2013) indicate that some students who participate in MOOCs are disoriented and overloaded, have low probability of interaction with experts or counselors, little real socialization and little depth in their interactions. On the other hand, current MOOCs in different national and international platforms start from a pedagogical design that takes them far from the didactic principle of connectivism and group work and can be labeled as an “impoverished elearning”. In the same way, being free and focused from the beginning on mass study, you lose contact with the tutor who happens to be, a moderator or thinker of forums in the best of cases. Converting the MOOC course into a series of short videos linked under the guiding thread of a theoretical index in which the student, through his viewing and small self-assessments, learns almost autonomously. At present, there are no strong processes of tutoring, content discrimination, student intervention and teamwork. In relation to the design of activities offered by MOOCs, these must be oriented towards reflecting on the practice itself and the acquisition of new competences

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rather than the content instruction and the evaluation of them. Many of these courses do not go beyond offering a course based on a traditional class segmented into audiovisual presentations of no more than 15 min, and in which the competence level of the student body is diminished by relying almost exclusively on rote-conceptual learning and on a mechanical evaluation of “trial-error” (Vázquez-Cano et al. 2015). In addition, there is the difficulty of the dispersion of information, conversations of the forums and interactions among hundreds of students that it is necessary to structure and organize in the direction of a holistic understanding of knowledge, that is, MOOCs need to have “content curators” (expert people who select, filter and systematize information continuously) to help the student enrich his learning process. On the other hand, while the fact that they facilitate access to knowledge to all social sectors (especially the most disadvantaged) is justified as a great strength of MOOCs, these types of courses have not penetrated as deeply as could be expected in the populations of a lower educational level and/or with difficulties in paying for a university degree (Christensen et al. 2013). Another handicap is that in the learning process in a MOOC the role of the learner should be, mainly, content provider, that is, active consumer and creative producer individually of them, and collaboratively with the community in training contexts (Vázquez-Cano 2013), with a certain level of digital competence and a high level of autonomy in the training processes that students do not always have. Another disadvantage of MOOC courses is that they are not properly adapted to mobile devices. In this sense, an alliance between MOOC and Mobile Learning is necessary. In many regions of the world, where even access to basic services is scarce, there are mobile technologies. Its wide proliferation, especially mobile phones, is an opportunity for the universalization of knowledge. The ideal access for MOOC courses would be app (Brazuelo and Cacheiro 2015). Finally, another of the current and future challenges of MOOCs is to articulate a feasible system of evaluation and certification of the competence progression of the participants in each course, such as the peer evaluation system, a more horizontal, networked approach and more related to web 2.0. The key, for a large part of the experts, lies in achieving a system of collecting and annotating data and analyzing them by combining hetero-evaluation with self-evaluation and peer evaluation (Vázquez-Cano et al. 2017; Mengual-Andrés et al. 2017; León Urrutia et al. 2017). Ultimately, a MOOC is a way to learn, ideally it is an open, participatory, distributed course and a lifelong learning network, it is a path of connection and collaboration (Vizoso Martín 2013), and it is an incipient area of development that does not stop evolving and that is beginning to generate new areas of research (Vázquez-Cano 2013).

4 Context of the Investigation An experience of university innovation is presented on the basis of the perception of 56 students who study subjects of “Information and Communication Technology” at

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the Pablo de Olavide University of Seville (Spain) of the Degree in Social Education corresponding to the 2016–17 academic year. The innovative experience takes place during the month of February of the academic year 2016–17 in the subject: “Information and Communication Technologies in Social Education”, corresponding to the first year of the degree of a Social Education Degree of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Pablo de Olavide University, of Seville (Spain) with a load of 7.3 ECTS Credits (European Credit Transfer System). With respect to the program of studies, this subject belongs to the area of Educational Didactics and Organization and is articulated around various thematic blocks; in our case, is the fourth core content called “social/Cross—cutting issues”, namely item 8: “The MOOCs and their impact on the social and educational fields” collected in Fig. 1 (the scheme of their blocks content). The experience is that the students of the first year of the Degree in Social Education make a reflection on the advantages and disadvantages of MOOCs in the socio-educational fields and in this way analyze their sustainability. In this sense, each student made a personal edublog for the subject on the activities carried out in it, one of their eyelashes being the MOOC where they had to respond to this reflection, among other aspects. In Fig. 1, two examples corresponding to students of the subject are displayed: “ICT and Social Education”. Considering this context, the present research study was structured according to the following priority objectives: 1. To investigate the perception relative to the advantages of the MOOC courses in the socio-educational fields used by the students of the first course of the subject of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Social Education. Tooth to the titling of an Education degree in the academic year 2016/17.

Edublog of the student Alejandra Torrejón URL:

http://alejandra13000.blogspot.com.es/p/realidadaumentada.html

Edublog of the student Florián Chacón URL:

http://elrincondelasticenlaeducacionsocial.blogspot.com.es/p/mooc.html

Fig. 1 Exemplifications of the personal edublogs of two students of the subject: “ICT and Social Education”

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2. Analyze the main weaknesses of the MOOC courses linked to socio-educational contexts of the student of the first course of Degree in Social Education (the subject of Social Education ICT in the academic year 2016/17). 3. Provide solutions to the main challenges to ensure the sustainability of the MOOC courses.

5 Methodology The research falls within the generic scope of qualitative research methods of a descriptive and ethnographic nature through the analysis of learning objects and interventions in the network. For the analysis, we reviewed the 294 contributions made by the 56 students analyzing the words or sets of meanings as units of record. This approach allows us to deal more deeply with a complex topic with high levels of interpretation and that a purely quantitative investigation by itself cannot determine (Yin 1989; Maxwell 1996). The research was organized in three phases; the first phase is constituted by an approach in which one analyzed the contributions of the students in the MCM through the technique of data reduction and coding between evaluators. This phase constitutes the realization of rational procedures that consist in categorizing and coding the data, identifying and differentiating units of meaning. A second phase consisted in the simplification and selection of the most important macro-categories according to the students. This process involves several sub-phases: separation and identification of categories and classification, synthesis, grouping and coding of the units. In the coding process, two evaluators participated who codified the written and audiovisual interventions of the students throughout the academic courses. Due to the high number of identified discursive units (294/N words = 10,789), the “Guetzkow’s U” index was calculated, which measures the coincidence in the number of units identified by two independent evaluators and coders according to the following formula (Holsti 1969): U = (O1 − O2)/(O1 + O2) where O1 represents the number of units identified by the encoder 1 and O2 represents the number of units reported by the encoder 2. Subsequently, the process of synthesis and the gathering together of the key representative categories were developed. Finally, a third phase in which a coding process, in the program Atlas-Ti, major advantages, difficulties and weaknesses associated with the same challenges as proposals as to “Memo”, and an explanatory network of the main proposals, was generated.

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6 Results The results of the second phase after three rounds of coding the “Guetzkow’s U” index obtained a good adjustment value (0.0069) which shows a 93% agreement between the units coded by the two evaluators. Furthermore, the kappa number was calculated to check the reliability between judges according to the following formula (Brennan and Prediger 1981): κ = ( Pii − Σ Pi × Pi )/(1 −  Pi × P i )  Pii is the percentage of agreement and  Pi × Pi reflects the probability of agreement (Holsti 1969). A good result was obtained in the Kappa index (κ = 84.08). In Fig. 2, we show the matrix of categories codified in the research corresponding to the macro-categories: advantages, weaknesses and challenges. In Fig. 3, Percentage results are shown by subcategories associated with the students’ perception of the advantages of MOOC courses in socio-educational contexts. With reference to the percentage analysis students note the advantages of the MOOC courses (Fig. 2); we can highlight the following: gratuity (16.67%), hourly flexibility (10.88%), helps the formation of the disadvantaged (9.86%), online training (9.52%). Also, the student indicates with a 7.48%, respectively, MOOC courses that offer contents presented by prestigious universities, virtual spaces for discussion and collaborative networks to share ideas and educational experiences. Finally, with one (6.46%) obtaining certificates, (6.12%) there is no enrollment limit and with a lower percentage that can help the initial and permanent training of teachers, they

Advantages of MOOCs

Weaknesses of MOOCs

Gratuity 49 University contents 22 Flexible schedule 32 Many courses 26 Disadvantaged training 40 Take several courses 1 Present discussion forums / questions eleven They offer multimedia materials 22 Help initial and permanent training 7 Online training 8 Collaborative social networks 28 Obtaining certificates 22 There is no enrollment limit 19

Lack of follow-up 17,54 It demands great student autonomy 12.32 Additional cost official certificate 7,11 High abandonment rate 13.27 Need for experts for educational designs 0.47 Dispersion of information 8.53 Expository material / standard 9.48 Inadequate evaluation system 10.43 Massive 6.64 Need technical knowledge 5.69 Predominance of MOOC courses in English 1.90 Some MOOCs not adapted mobile devices 1.90 Need for Internet access 3.32 New business model 1.42

Fig. 2 Matrix of categories associated with research

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offer multimedia materials for teaching and several MOOC courses can be taken at the same time. Therefore, the two most outstanding categories with regard to the advantages offered by this type of training are its gratuity and flexible hours. Likewise, and in agreement with Vázquez-Cano et al. (2013), it is coincided in that they can help the digital inclusion of collectives at risk of exclusion and marginal groups. They provide a great diversity of interesting and high quality content as indicated by other authors (Sandeen 2013; Gillani and Eynon 2014; Jordan 2014; Engle et al. 2015). Finally, as indicated by 9.52% of students, MOOCs, through a systematic development process, one could help achieve a goal that has not been met so far. These formative tendencies could be used to generate initial and ongoing teacher training processes. The massive nature of this type of training can mark a before and after in the coverage of the needs of teachers, especially in Africa and Asia, where it is most needed (Silvia-Peña 2014). Regarding the main difficulties of the MOOC movement, they arise from an essential questioning of the philosophy from which they were born (massive context) as indicated by 14 students in the sample (Fig. 4). Another of the most criticized aspects of the MOOC courses with 13.27% of the students are their high dropout rates, consistent with Fidalgo et al. (2013). Currently, as pointed out by Daniel et al. (2015), many MOOC courses are designed as if they were a collection of videos to which a forum is added, which implies following a traditional distance teaching model without promoting an adapted or personalized learning. Aspects such as these, together with the quality of the training process, should constitute one of the main challenges for MOOCs in the coming years. In this regard, 17.54% of students believe that proper monitoring of the

Fig. 3 Percentages of student responses related to the advantages of MOOC courses

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Fig. 4 Frequencies of student responses related to the weaknesses of MOOC courses

development and evaluation of them, are missing, and most have general expository material, standard and not adapted to the particular user’s interests (9.48%). In this sense, voices have been presented that speak of a MacDonalization process of education through the distribution of standardized educational packages worldwide (Lane and Kinser 2013; Aguaded et al. 2013). In addition, they suffered from systems with very traditional evaluation (10.43%), and had a large dispersion of information that hindered an optimal learning process (8.53%). Here, Calderon Ezeiza and Jimeno (2013) indicate that some students participating in the MOOC are overloaded, disoriented, and have low probability of interaction with experts or counselors, little real socialization and shallow interactions. Regarding weaknesses, students first consider that the predominance of the MOOC courses is in English and they are adapted to mobile devices (1.90% respectively), the need for Internet rea Lizar the MOOC courses (3.32%), the additional costs in some MOOCs to obtain an official certificate (7.11%), the requirement under this modality that the student possesses a high degree of autonomy and personal involvement (12.32%). In addition, 1.5% believes that the new training paths in order to adapt oneself to learn massively can be derived simply from a new business model for the Universities and Institutions without proven quality in line with several authors (Zapata 2013; Vázquez-Cano Lopez and Sarasola 2013). And a student expressed the need for these types of courses skilled in the instructional design of the MOOC courses by experts, i.e., as indicated in Leon Urrutia et al. (2017), course designers MOOC should advance a comprehensive approach more adaptive to dif-

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Fig. 5 Network Atlas-Ti. Major challenges

ferent socio—educational and designed to meet different educational and training demands Associated with majors advantages and difficulties and weaknesses of the MOOC courses, one has generated an explanatory concepts network that students proposed as challenges to overcome and integrate into the design of the MOOC courses. To this end, Atlas-Ti categorized into major challenges associated with the advantages and difficulties encountered (Fig. 5) which were implemented in five proposals in the form of technological challenges to improve teaching and evaluation of the MOOC courses. The proposed challenges have suggested five “memos” that explain the main challenges to promote a more sustainable development of the MOOC. Memo 1: Calibrated Peer Review. Optimization of teaching time through networking tools and resources that promotes scalability and a system that was experienced at the University of California and now has spread in many institutions of higher education. It is mainly applied in the development of reflections written by other peers need feedback so that the writing itself and arguments previously exposed (Sadler and Good 2006) are improved. The process has been redefined since then and currently has four phases (UCLA-CPR 2012): In the first, students prepared and sent an essay or topic in the format that addresses itself to the tutor-teacher. In a second phase, students randomly evaluated three jobs so contrasted with the use of a rubric created for this purpose. In the third phase, and once the rubric is validated, each

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student receives three anonymous statements to other students and evaluated with a work heading. In the fourth and final phase, each student receives assessments from peers together with the comments made. Memo 2: Faculty-directed “student-sourcing” of student responses to questions. Wikis employment: allowing teachers-tutors to ask questions to those who developed the program and are co-answered by students giving feedback and questioning certain nuances that then end with a final intervention by the teacher where the successes and mistakes of students are covered. Memo 3: Just-in-time teaching. The tutor should opt for the Just-in-Time Teaching system which provides the student acquiring skills and that will serve throughout their studies, and in the workplace. To do this, the student thinks and re-elaborates questions posed by the teacher and before starting the course one is self-assessed and provided with an effective teacher feedback on what aspects require further attention and reflection. Memo 4: Recommendation systems. The application of these concepts in education and specifically in the MOOC, implies that the learning environment (platform) is able to recommend resources and activities based on preferences and learning styles of students; it also implies that one can consider the particular needs of each person making effective the concept of customization, and caters to large numbers of students since the recommendations are made by an artificial component and not by the teacher. Recommendation systems are also defined as intelligent information filtering elements that provide tailored recommendations on products to a user (VelezLangs and Santos 2006). Memo 5: Learning analytics. Adaptive systems based on digital tools allow monitoring students, and statistics that are generated provide interested teachers with information to modify the teaching, correcting gaps and promoting new ways of learning data (Johnson et al. 2013) or (Rosicka and Hoskova-Mayerova 2014). It is based on a process of verification tasks performed by students automatically providing direct information to the tutor of activities performed (Lockyer et al. 2013).

7 Conclusion Training, research and technological innovation are core objectives for improving the quality and competitiveness of a country, in addition to the sustainable development of citizenship. In this sense, universities are cultural-technologies for expansion and dissemination of global knowledge institutions, empowerment of citizens, educational innovation, knowledge transfer and the revitalizing of professional development, and social and inclusive cohesion in the technological fabric and economic development of knowledge within the whole of society for development and human progress (López-Meneses 2017). This new mode of expansion of knowledge can help transform classrooms, from a limited in time, and reserved access to information sometimes available to a social elite, to transcend new scenarios of ubiquitous learning, connective, informal, and horizontal, which can facilitate the digital inclu-

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sion of the most disadvantaged and the birth of interactive virtual communities of collective intelligence. But we must be aware that after a first period of upheaval and impact on the formative world of higher education, the democratic expansion of knowledge has shown a number of shortcomings as expressed by the students, and is corroborated by other authors: the high dropout rate, the limited interactivity among participants, official recognition of training credits, the trend towards monetization, etc. (Aguaded et al. 2013; Daniel Vazquez-Cano and Gisbert 2015; Leon Urrutia et al. 2017). A number of interesting studies concerning educational process can be also find in the book (Maturo et al. 2016). Ultimately, in the current technological, social and communicative network, universities will be adapting the training process (and are doing the vast majority of innovation) addressing, inter alia, the characteristics and needs of students, facilitating the incorporation of a flexible and open environment for training and learning to help transform traditional communication models (characterized by the passivity of students) by others in which they can actively participate in the construction of knowledge, and where they are aware of their own process training in the acquisition of skills and a new grasp on technological tools (Cabero et al. 2015). In short, we are speaking about an entirely different educational approach, and a new drawing map for university institutions, i.e., the University Innovation Project 2.0 (Cabero and Marin 2011). Acknowledgements This work arises from the marked guidelines offered by the teacher Innovation 2.0 project with information and communications technology in the European Higher Education Area, developed under the Innovation Projects and Teacher Development at the University Pablo de Olavide (UPO), funded by the Department for Teaching and European Convergence of the University.

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Introducing E-learning to a Traditional University: A Case-Study Donatella Gubiani, Irina Cristea and Tanja Urbanˇciˇc

Abstract This work is concerned with a transformation of educational activities at a traditional university towards more flexible and open education – a process that higher education institutions consider with the aim of adapting to the needs of new generations. As one of the elements in this process, virtual classrooms and e-learning are therefore being introduced not only at open universities offering distant learning, but also at other, traditional universities where face-to-face learning prevails. This process has to be done carefully so as not to lower the level of teaching and learning quality, but rather to enhance it by taking advantage of the opportunities that information and communication technologies have offered to the field of education. The chapter focuses on this process and analyses the situation at the University of Nova Gorica (Slovenia) as a case study. It investigates the benefits as well as the difficulties, all with the aim of identifying efficient measures supporting further development. Keywords E-learning · Higher education · Moodle platform · Academic challenges

1 Introduction Information and communication technologies have changed the ways how young generations – popularly called Digital Native generation – function in their every day life, and will radically influence also the ways how they will function in their D. Gubiani · I. Cristea (B) · T. Urbanˇciˇc Center for Information Technologies and Applied Mathematics, University of Nova Gorica, Gorica, Slovenia e-mail: [email protected] D. Gubiani e-mail: [email protected] T. Urbanˇciˇc Department of Knowledge Technologies, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_18

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future. Many professions will disappear due to computerisation, while the others will encounter considerable changes (Frey and Osborne 2013). The expectations and needs of nowadays youngsters are substantially different from those that their teachers had when they went to school, and the discrepancies between the needs and the reality in schools have to be diminished (Smrikarov et al. 2015). This is valid not only for primary and secondary schools, but also for higher education institutions. Education has to keep in touch with the times and to not restrain the generations of the future using the methods of the past. Only that way, the educational system will allow everybody to develop their potentials. The European Commission has published a communication to boost digital skills in education in September 2013 (European Commission 2013). The communication mentioned statistics revealing that between 50 and 80% of students in EU countries never used digital textbooks, exercise software, broadcasts/podcasts, simulations or learning games. It also identified the problem of teachers not considering themselves sufficiently digitally confident, and the need for more training in using ICTs. Among the introduced measures for improving the situation with stimulating high-quality, innovative teaching and learning, the Commission also pointed to the huge potential of Open Educational Resources (OERs) and suggested that they should be produced, collected and used at an increased level (Švarcova et al. 2016). The needed changes go far beyond just using new, ICT-based technologies for teaching and learning. European universities are well aware of this, as reported in (Gaebel et al. 2014) and reflected also in the European Principles for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching, published in a document entitled “Enhancing the education mission of European universities: A proactive response to change” (European Forum for Enhanced Collaboration in Teaching 2017; Hoskova-Mayerova 2011) and presented also through the European Universities Association (EUA) web-site. The document states, that “The Principles have been developed through discussion with a broad range of European higher education institutions and their representatives. They are non-prescriptive, cherish diversity of purpose, content and methods, commend other ongoing sectoral initiatives, and respect fully the fundamental tenets of institutional autonomy and academic freedom.” The authors of this paper completely agree that there are many different ways of designing and implementing the needed changes, and each university has to find its own way taking into account its particular situation. In this sense, the case-study presented in the continuation should be understood as a specific example with the aim of analyzing particular processes that might be useful for other institutions considering similar steps, and is by no means offered as a general guideline.

2 University of Nova Gorica and Its Motivation for E-learning The University of Nova Gorica (UNG) is a small, young, research-oriented and internationally open university. It has developed from an international postgraduate School of Environmental Science, established in 1995. During the next years,

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other study programs joined. The institution was developed into the Nova Gorica Polytechnic in 1999, and in 2006, it became the University of Nova Gorica. At this time, it has seven schools, offering Bachelor’s, Master’s and doctoral study programs from the fields of natural sciences, biotechnology, engineering and management, humanities and arts. In most of them, there is a lot of interdisciplinarity. Having an extremely favorable teacher-student number ratio that permits an individual approach to the students whenever needed, up-to-date study programs and excellent opportunities for students taking part in various research projects, the graduates of the University of Nova Gorica are well prepared for successful professional and academic careers. This reflects also in a high employability rate that is over 93% in 12 months after graduation. The university’s guiding principle is a concern for quality and international competitiveness. According to the results of the international Round University Ranking system (RUR), performing evaluations and rankings of leading world universities by taking into account also the size of the institution, the University of Nova Gorica in 2017 was ranked in the 186th place. As seen from the results of the global university ranking program called U-Multirank, published on the website www.umultirank.org, UNG’s results are high above the average (Fig. 1). In particular, it has achieved an outstanding result in research and in international orientation. Similarly, the European Commission’s report on Scientific Output and Collaboration of European Universities has recognized the scientific excellence of the University of Nova Gorica. The report explicitly mentions it as one of the four institutions that “stand out for their strong performances in terms of scientific impact, as they are

Fig. 1 U-Multirank 2017 results for the University of Nova Gorica. The height of each column denotes a grade achieved for a specific criterion, the tallest column standing for “exceptionally good”, and the lowest column for “weak”

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always among the top five according to the three citation-based impact measures” (European Commission 2013). The University of Nova Gorica wants the acknowledged excellence in research being reflected also in enhanced educational achievements. With this in mind, the university systematically encourages and develops new approaches to teaching and learning, with an emphasis on students’ active role, project work, establishing links of education with research processes, respecting the contemporary social needs, and opening up to the international context. Besides traditional full-time students that can regularly attend the courses, other students needing more flexibility are being enrolled. As the first university in Slovenia, the University of Nova Gorica has broaden the criteria for the status of athlete to all athletes who are registered as competitors and who actively take part in competitions. Besides several athletes, also some employed students with occasional duties in other towns or countries enrolled to the University of Nova Gorica in the last few years. In order to enable them to study in parallel with their work or sports career, adaptations in the organization of their studies are enabled, tailored to their specific needs. Another group that requires similar attention are international students. More and more students from abroad are coming to this university, not only as exchange students for a semester, but also for their entire study. Currently, 40% of Bachelor’s and Master’s students and 65% of PhD students come from foreign countries. With their knowledge, experience and diversity, they are viewed as an enrichment and contribute significantly to the international character of the university. For them, combining the studies with some elements of e-learning has some additional importance as language barriers and some other difficulties due to different backgrounds can be diminished by providing them with additional materials in virtual classrooms. This is especially important in the starting phase of their study, however, in some cases it helps during the whole duration of their studies. The University of Nova Gorica has acquired valuable experience with providing good study opportunities to these groups of students. This experience is a good basis for the university to make the next step in the direction of providing more accessible and flexible ways of education together with enhanced teaching methods for all students. This can contribute to better opportunities for the development of individuals and of the society as a whole, where one of the important objectives is any individual’s active involvement throughout his or her life, respecting, in the process, the various ways in which knowledge may be acquired. In rapidly changing and unpredictable circumstances, the challenges of providing future oriented good quality education have to be tackled with rational use of resources, giving priority to affordable and sustainable solutions (Urbanˇciˇc and Orliˇc 2013). This is an imperative also for the University of Nova Gorica. Due to the all above mentioned aspects, the University of Nova Gorica has recognized e-learning as an important opportunity. In particular, blended learning (Singh 2003; Garrison and Vaughan 2008; Garrison and Kanuka 2014; Okaz 2015) combining face-to-face teaching with e-learning in a way that enhances the quality of education is a reasonable option.

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3 The Process of Introducing E-Learning to the University of Nova Gorica In this section we describe how the process of introducing elements of e-learning into the educational practice at the University of Nova Gorica has started, from the first attempts to the time when virtual classrooms are spread at all the schools of the university. The progress is reflected through the feed-back collected from students and teachers as a basis for planning further developments.

3.1 When and How Did It Start? At the University of Nova Gorica, the Academy of Arts was the first school introducing the elements of e-learning into their study process. In the academic year 2009/2010 they produced internal and public e-platforms and e-learning materials to conduct the Digital Arts and Practices study program. They also introduced a school-wide Vimeo channel. The platforms were well accepted by the students, teachers and also by a wider artistic and academic community. Equally important was their development of innovative and active use of e-content and e-services in the art pedagogy, for which the Academy is well-known and has proved to be successful by numerous international achievements of students and teachers alike. Advancements at this school were accelerated also with the Advancing Digitally Renewed Interactions in Art Teaching (ADRIART) project (2011–2014) in which an international Master program “Media Arts and Practices” strongly supported with digital media has been developed in an innovative way (Purg and Brasil 2016; Purg et al. 2016; Hoskova-Mayerova 2012). Although each academic discipline has its own specifics that have to be respected, all schools were encouraged to follow good examples and to transform their education process so as to include new teaching methods with more active students’ role. In 2013, first virtual classrooms were implemented at other schools of the university. In spring 2014, a steering committee for introducing e-learning and new methods of teaching throughout the university has been established. The committee provides guidelines and coordinates the activities. Soon after that, in collaboration with the Jozef Stefan Institute as a strategic partner it came the video-archiving of lectures (Orliˇc et al. 2014), followed with inclusion of serious educational games with the information technology support (Cestnik and Urbanˇciˇc 2014), and the development of mobile applications in education (Cestnik et al. 2015). The use and reuse of open educational resources (OER) was actively promoted and supported (Orliˇc et al. 2015). The University has also opened its YouTube channel and started the “e-UNG” website. First experience with using video recordings of lectures at the University of Nova Gorica was very positive, especially in connection with subtitles in different languages, which makes it easier for foreign students to follow. The experience is

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reported in more detail in (Orliˇc et al. 2014). Recorded lectures stored on the Internet can serve as a valuable resource for students since they can be viewed at convenient times and places, and at a pace that is best suited for the needs of an individual student. Automatic transcription and translation can bring additional benefits as lectures can be viewed also by students that are not fluent in comprehending the language in which the lectures is performed in the class. Also, some students might prefer reading to listening, when viewing recorded lectures in non-native language, even if the language is English. Once the lecture is recorded, it can also be used for blended learning, combining e-learning and classroom teaching (Jacob 2011). Figure 2 is one example of a videolecture at the School of Engineering and Management at University of Nova Gorica, where the automatic transcription in Slovene language and the automatic translation to English have been used. In general, multimedia is an effective way of disseminating knowledge. It is very close to the young generation (Lenhart 2012). In addition, a repository of filmed resources – providing and respecting the appropriate Creative Common licenses – can help the institution to disseminate and reuse these resources. As stated by Helsdingen et al. (2010), the direct benefits are (1) to enhance the institution’s reputation, (2) to support students and researchers, (3) to enhance the quality of their education and (4)

Fig. 2 An example of automatic transcription and translation of a video lecture at UNG (transLectures live website, 2014)

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to share knowledge. Obviously, this is only true if it is bound to high-quality content in terms of academic and media quality. However, no matter how good the educational materials are, the success lies in the ways how they are used in the teaching and learning process. This is crucial for achieving learning outcomes in each particular case. Therefore, the need of virtual classrooms became evident in order to organise the e-learning part of blended learning in a unified way, providing the students and the teachers with a single entry point.

3.2 Spreading Virtual Classrooms over the University In July 2013 the University of Nova Gorica organized an intensive course of 2 weeks for introducing the e-learning process and the Moodle platform to the staff members about to become the pioneers of the process at their schools. More exactly, each school designed one teacher to act as an e-learning coordinator at the school level, taking care about the school activities regarding the e-learning system through the Moodle platform. Tasks of the coordinators include opening or approving the opening of a new e-course at his/her school, helping the other teachers with basic information concerning the management of the courses in virtual classrooms, tracking the evolution of the e-learning process at the school, and similar. They have the “manager” role in Moodle, having the privilege to edit (not only to view) each course in the university’s Moodle platform. Immediately after the introductory course, already in the summer period, two e-courses (Technical mathematics at the School of Engineering and Management and Geology at the School of Environmental Sciences) were created by the coordinators themselves, so as to provide concrete examples for the other teachers expected to transform their courses. Here it should be noted that these courses, as well as all the other courses produced so far, are not prepared in a way to be used purely on distance, but are used in combination with face-to-face learning. After the initial training period, each six months (January 2014, July 2014, February 2015), three internal workshops for the university instructors took place, involving more and more teachers into the process of introducing e-learning. At the workshops, they were provided with practical information on how to create their own e-course in Moodle. These three workshops have been prepared and led by the most active school coordinators, the first one also in collaboration with the university’s system administrator. In parallel with the second workshop, a new e-course called “Moodle for Teachers” has been settled up on the university’s Moodle platform, as a support for all staff interested in this process. The course contains all necessary instructions on Moodle in general. It covers its facilities, activities and resources, it contains external links to other open e-learning courses, and a forum where the teachers can find answers to their questions/problems arising during the preparation of their own e-course. In the following we will more precisely describe the trend of the number of virtual classrooms at the University of Nova Gorica. In the university Moodle platform, virtual classrooms are categorized by the schools responsible for them: School of

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Engineering and Management, School of Environmental Sciences, School of Science, School of Humanities, School for Viticulture and Enology, Graduate School, and Academy of Arts (for practical reasons, we keep the Slovenian acronyms: PTF, FZO, FN, FH, VSVV, FPS, and AU, respectively). Thus the Moodle platform reflects the organisational structure of the university. Besides the courses belonging to formal study programs at the UNG schools, a distinct category, called “Other” was created for special e-courses available to all schools. These courses are: Moodle for Teachers, Bridging course of Mathematics, and two virtual courses for managing student projects spanning over more schools. Figure 3 shows the trend of the number of e-courses in UNG Moodle platform, with the situation at each particular school being indicated with colours. We can notice that, since the academic year 2013/14, this number has increased year by year, reaching a maximum of 76 e-courses in the academic year 2015/2016. This number was almost the same (more precisely, there was one course less) in the academic year 2016/2017, with some changes regarding the proportions among the schools. Namely, to some extent the situation depends on the number of the available courses that year: some of them are elective courses, some of them are organized in two year cycles, etc. The situation is different for each school, as clearly represented by Fig. 4. At some schools (AU, FPS) the number is more or less the same each year. Academy of Arts (AU) has already covered more or less all their courses suitable for this. At the Graduate School (FPS), the situation is also specific due to the prevailingly individual research work that in the cases encountered so far did not need such a support in all courses, while it has been used where appropriate. At two of the schools (PTF, FZO) the trend is consistently increasing. The most systematic increase is noticed at the School of Engineering and Management (PTF) – the first one represented in the figure – where they decided to cover one more year of the study program each

Fig. 3 The trend of the number of e-courses in UNG Moodle platform, grouped by schools

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Fig. 4 Trends of using virtual classrooms on UNG Moodle platform

year. After the Academy of Arts, this school was the second that decided to have virtual classrooms for the whole study program, starting with the first year of the first degree last year, and now building higher years on top of this. At the other schools (VSVV, FN, FH), after an additional increase, we notice a decrease in the academic year 2016/17. The reasons are different, for example, at VSVV there were some changes in the faculty that resulted in a temporary drop of activities in Moodle, but this should change as soon as the newcomers get fully involved.

3.3 Following the Progress The progress of the process is regularly followed in different ways. While some teachers conduct ad hoc surveys of their students’ views, self-evaluation procedures are carried out in a more systematic way on a yearly bases at the level of the schools and the university as a whole. Since one year cycles are obviously too slow for the process of introducing e-learning to be managed efficiently, the steering committee regularly reports to the senate of the university every two months and consequently discusses open issues with the school representatives whenever the situation requires. As a part of the self-evaluation process, a questionnaire for students and one for teachers have been prepared, in order to monitor teachers’ and students’ views and needs regarding the e-courses. Both of them provided useful information and suggestions for improving the quality of the produced e-courses, all of them being discussed during the next workshops and for the preparation of the self-evaluation reports and the reports of the steering committee at the university senate meetings. In addition, several teachers that are using the university Moodle platform, systematically collect feed-back in their class by using short questionnaires for their students, concerning

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the structure and management of their particular e-course and other specific issues not covered by general questionnaires. Having analysed the students’ answers, we have noticed that at the beginning the students did not use the e-learning materials in a proper way. Consequently, they considered them as an additional burden, and did not see them as a support for their study. Year by year, with the increased number of the virtual classrooms and, in the first place, with their enrichment, the students’ opinion on virtual classes has completely changed. After getting used to it, it is now the students that want the teachers to provide more and more interactive materials for their courses. We have recently checked the teachers’ perspective with a questionnaire asking about their attitude towards the Moodle platform, the observed benefits and plans for the future. 29 teachers, representing a great majority of the School of Engineering and Management staff, have answered the questionnaire. This school was chosen as the one with the most intensive spread of virtual classrooms in the recent years, facing the biggest changes and experiencing the consequences to the biggest extent. In the continuation we analyse the views collected from the teachers of this school to be better prepared for the processes at the other schools of the university. At the School of Engineering and Management, 51.2% of the teachers participating in the questionnaire already use classrooms in Moodle while 20% plan to use it in a one year time. 24.1% have not considered this option yet. This is not surprising as the process was designed year by year, covering two years by now and the others being planned in two subsequent years. Less than 5% think that this is not a good idea. For those that have already used virtual classrooms or plan to use them, the main motivating factors are as follows: (1) I like that the students have all the materials for their courses at one place (81.0%); (2) I like to have on-line materials for my course (52.4%); (3) I was encouraged by the school management (52.4%); (4) I followed the needs of my students (28.6%); (5) I like to know how much the students use study materials (28.6%); (6) I have already had a good experience using similar tools (9.5%). Other answers got less than 5%. Teachers that have used or plan to use e-courses intend to learn to use Moodle in the following ways: (1) by themselves (57.1%); (2) participating to the workshops organized at UNG (38.1%); (3) using (on-line) tutorials (14.3%); (4) using the materials in the UNG course “Moodle for Teachers” (14.3%). Other answers got less than 5%. Teachers that have not used virtual classrooms yet, explained their reasons as follows. Most of the answers were connected with the lack of time, although expressed differently. There were also answers mentioning other channels they use, like their own webpage, or even e-mails. In one answer, there was an explanation that the course they are teaching is not appropriate to be thought in this way. The answer “It is too complicated” was also offered, but has not been chosen. The answers to this question will help to suggest measures for improvement. In some cases, simple explanations about the reasons for preferring the unique platform over personal webpages or e-mail should be sufficient. When specifics of the course are involved, this requires closer inspection and a potential intervention will depend on the reasons

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revealed. Regarding the lack of time, providing additional technical, operational as well pedagogical support would definitely help, although the problem is general and can only be fully solved in a broader context of organizational issues. The last question was “If you have not used virtual classes yet, do you think that the students have some critics, since your course is not in Moodle?”. Out of ten teachers with the negative reply to this question, two say that they explain to the students why they don’t use Moodle. The remaining six argue that they have not been asked by students to use it yet. On the other hand, four teachers have considered this situation, three of them now planning to use virtual classrooms for their courses in a one year time. We also analysed if there were differences regarding the age or the profile of the teachers. As suggested by Yelland et al. (2008), the lack of confidence with the use of technology for new teaching opportunities seems to affect mainly older staff with less computer literate than their younger colleagues. In our study this has not been confirmed, since 68.8% of the interviewed instructors using virtual classrooms e-courses have more than 39 years old (37.5% more than 50). In the next two sections we will discuss in more detail the benefits and the difficulties that the students and teachers at the University of Nova Gorica reported.

4 Benefits of Using Virtual Classrooms It is clear that the transformation of the ways of teaching has a big impact. In this section we present the benefits of introducing Moodle virtual classrooms from the view point of all groups involved in the process, students, teachers and decision makers. The section is based on the feed-back collected from all of them, either with questionnaires or with interviews. Students mentioned different reasons for preferring the introduction of e-classes. Main of them were concerned with the following aspects: (1) having all the materials for their courses at one place, (2) having a permanent access to all materials (including the deadlines of their assignments), (3) having interactive materials (i.e. short videos, exercises with partial or entire solution), (4) being not necessary to buy books, (5) being in contact with their instructors or colleagues (by using the forums). Especially for the students that can not regularly attend the courses (athletes, employed students, students with special needs), the introduction of the virtual classrooms and e-learning system represent an excellent support during their study. Several times, it happened also that international students could not arrive to Nova Gorica by the beginning of the academic year due to the delays in obtaining visa documents. Nevertheless they can start studying by attending virtual classrooms. This helps them in catching up faster when they arrive. Teachers reported several benefits of virtual classrooms, among which the following prevail:

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(1) Using the Moodle platform makes it easier to incorporate short videos and different interactive materials that are more attractive than a simple text and are easily recalled by learners. (2) Instructors have a complete view of students’ engagement through their activities (homeworks; quizzes; reading), which enables them to provide a faster feed-back to students. (3) The instructors have the possibility to upload supplementary materials on a specific topic any time, also after the topic has already been discussed in the class. (4) The e-learning system improves the quality of traditional face-to-face on-campus discussions, substituting parts of them with forums, avoiding repetitive answers to frequently asked questions. Opening a forum regarding a certain argument, the learners can send their new questions or search through those already addressed by their colleagues. (5) Teachers can use Moodle for efficient management of student projects, also those involving students from different schools. Decision makers and the steering committee also identified clear benefits helping them in their work. They emphasized the following two important aspects: (1) They get information needed for better managing e-learning processes as well as educational activities in broader sense. It makes it easier for them to identify examples of good practice, to identify where and when help is needed, in some cases also to organize such help. (2) They get support in achieving increased quality of education as the awareness of the importance of teaching methods and teaching performance is more systematically spreading among teachers.

5 Difficulties and Proposals How to Overcome Them In this section we point out the difficulties encountered at the University of Nova Gorica when using virtual classrooms and online educational materials. While the challenges that the academic staff encounter have been divided by Islam et al. (2015) in five broad categories: learning style and cultural challenges, pedagogical e-learning challenges, technological challenges, technical training challenges and time management challenges, all of them being vital for a successful e-learning outcome, we divide them in three main categories: pedagogical, technical and organisational. We also propose solutions for overcoming them, or at least for preventing their negative impact on the learning process. They should by no means be viewed as a general formulae for solving the problems of all target groups, but rather to collect the ideas to be discussed by the decision makers when relevant for their particular circumstances. Pedagogical problems. Virtual classrooms and teaching with blended approaches should not be just a mirror of standard face-to-face teaching. Especially it should not

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adopt old practices of ex cathedra lecturing without active students’ engagement. It is a challenge how to make and keep students motivated and active. The instructors must understand which is the learning style of their students. “Successful pedagogy requires the teacher to understand how students learn, then design and deliver course materials and mentor students appropriately, so that knowledge and skills are passed on. In this way, e-learning will produce the return on investment” (Islam et al. 2015). Besides this aspect, the main problems that the instructors at the University of Nova Gorica have faced, include the question of absences. Some students tend to miss classes, thinking that they will find everything in a virtual classroom. Sometimes the teachers have also difficulties in knowing whether on-line submissions of students’ assignments were the result of their own work or not. E-learning and combined methods such as flipped learning and blending learning require careful planning and design of teaching scenaria, respecting pedagogical and didactical concerns. Teachers need more information and training in this respect. They should also be advised to make specifications of what is expected from students perfectly clear from the very beginning of the course, documented in an appropriate way and repeated at distinguished phases of the process, especially in the first courses thought in the new way. It is important to include social and educational component through peer to peer communication and efficient communication between the teacher and each student. Although the classes are still small at the moment, scaling up will require additional staff for effective and prompt individual communication with each student. Also, learning analytics tools might become necessary for an early identification of students with higher risk of drop-out for providing them with additional support in time. Technical problems. The quality of virtual classrooms depends also on the teachers’ and students’ familiarity with the new technologies as well as on the technical equipment and support provided by the university. The difficulties reported by the interviewed instructors were mainly related to the next three issues: (1) At the first glance, Moodle or another platform to support e-learning appears to be complicated and difficult to be used by people with not sufficient skills of using computers and the web. (2) Even skilled users in certain situations face limitations due to the equipment and tools used at the moment: connections break during sessions with synchronous two-way communications, students can not upload files of big dimensions, students need a scanner to upload their assignments, teachers miss special equipment needed for producing new interactive materials. (3) Production of multimedia and interactive materials requires not only equipment, but also specific skills they lack. As the new situations revealed new technical problems, several decisions for equipment and tools will have to be reconsidered and possibly changed to enable all the needed functionalities. An important criterion should be reliability and the easy-to-use principle for both, teachers and students. Providing adequate training and prompt support is also crucial and will have to be enhanced. Simple devices such as mobile phones should also be considered instead of scanners and other equipment not generally accessible to students. Production of more sophisticated multimedia education materials is a complex task that requires professionals to be involved.

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Organisational problems. Teachers preparing and conducting e-learning activities encounter difficulties in managing their time, as preparing new materials, answering promptly to students’ questions via forums or e-mails, keeping the e-course up-todate take a significant portion of their working time. While some of these activities are usually done when preparing the course (i.e. designing and producing educational materials, preparing good assignments (in particular quizzes), creating/uploading videos, uploading links to external materials), some of them are very repetitive (i.e. checking students activities, posting comments for students’ assignments, maintaining forums). These activities are important since they make the course to be a “live course”, the teacher is in contact with his/her students, has an immediate feedback on his/her study materials (how attractive they are for the students), has the possibility to enhance some parts of the course, to add new materials even later when time permits. Another organisational problem is communication with students via different channels. Usually course related information is posted by teachers and this could be done either through the Moodle platform or by using the student information system that is used also for administrative announcements. Thus the students must verify both systems, in order not to loose any information, which still happens from time to time. There are also some minor operational issues, such as managing the same course for students from different schools. In this case the teachers has two possibilities: (a) to create two identical complete courses, one for each school, enabling the students to deal only with courses from their school folder, but the teacher spends double time to manage the two courses; (b) to create one “main” course (in the folder of the school with the biggest number of students) and a secondary one (for the second school). The teacher enrolls all the students into the main course and manages only the main course, while in the secondary, a link to the main course is inserted. To save precious teachers’ time for other important tasks, good quality open educational resources should be used whenever appropriate, as it will not be possible (nor would it be rational) to produce novel educational materials for all the courses in a reasonable amount of time with existing resources. The ways of communication with students should be clearly specified so as to prevent duplications or loss of information due to too many entry points. Finally, organisational tricks and tips known to some teachers should be shared with the others in order to optimize the efficiency and users’ satisfaction, leaving them more time and energy to concentrate on how to ensure learning outcomes to be achieved.

6 Conclusion In this chapter we have addressed the process of introducing elements of e-learning into the educational practice at the Nova Gorica University as an example of a university with currently prevailing face-to-face teaching. Concluding remarks in this last section summarize lessons learned and provide guidelines for future work. While in the report on e-learning at the European universities (Gaebel et al. 2014) art is mentioned as a field where the number of reported examples is behind the other

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disciplines, the situation at the University of Nova Gorica is different. At this university, the Academy of Arts was the first one to consistently introduce the elements of e-learning into their studies. They have examples of good practice, that – although in some ways specific for their field of studies – bring more general messages of wider importance. As such, they should be more intensively presented and communicated, as they can provide not only useful information, but also inspiration by their efficient and energetic strive for innovative pedagogical approaches combining face-to-face teaching with e-learning. Another characteristic differentiating the University of Nova Gorica from the majority of the institutions included in the European Universities Association survey mentioned above (Gaebel et al. 2014) lies in the fact that it has decided for an institutional approach, spread all over the university and decisively supported by the university management. Based on acquired evidence, the design of virtual classrooms year by year could be accelerated. With the accumulated experience and more support for the teachers, all the remaining courses could be covered with virtual classrooms simultaneously. The e-course “Moodle for Teachers” should be better advertised among the university teachers. It is a useful and handy resource that could (and should) be better exploited. However, the priorities and specifics of each school should be respected, with the platform being offered and supported, but not forced when it might not be needed or not viewed as an advantage. However, in each such case the reasons should be checked so as to provide guidance in the same or different direction if needed. In any case, teachers will need additional information and training in e-learning pedagogy and didactics, about blended learning and flipped classrooms in particular. They will also need additional information how to efficiently use and reuse open educational resources, with a regular opportunity for peer to peer sharing of good practices and advice. With increased ambitions and new needs, especially dealing with streaming of the lectures and synchronous two-way communication via videoconferencing, several technical solutions will have to be reconsidered and enhanced. Prompt technical support provided to teachers and students is also important since dissatisfaction in critical moments can seriously disrupt achieving the goals, no matter all the other advancements. To avoid potential confusions due to different information channels, if Moodle is decided to be used by a school, there should be a protocol which channels are used for particular cases. Definitely, for uploading teaching materials, the platform should be preferred over teachers’ personal web-pages or even sending them by email. For students it is better to use one way of access to the materials. This holds in general; however, the issues become more complex and should be tackled with care to avoid duplications when general daily information or news connected with the student information system is involved. As e-learning is becoming wider spread throughout the university and has been recognized as one of the elements important for the quality of education process, we suggest that e-learning related surveys become a part of regular quality assurance procedures, becoming an obligatory part of each school’s yearly self-evaluation reports. The steering committee has already invited the university coordinator for quality

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assurance to take part in certain committee’s activities. Students’ role will also be amplified so as to check their view more frequently. As shown from the analysis done by Frey and Osborne (2013), the occupation of a teacher is among those with the lowest probability of computerisation. Also with constantly increasing role of e-learning and many IT tools for learning analytics, personalised learning, etc., there is no fear that the role of teachers will decrease. However, it will change considerably. This irreversible process is well on the way and the sooner we get prepared, the better.

References Cestnik, B., Bohanec, M., Urbanˇciˇc, T.: QTvity: advancing students’ engagement during lectures by using mobile devices. In: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Computer Systems and Technologies (CompSysTech’15), pp. 334–341. Dublin, Ireland (2015) Cestnik, B., Urbanˇciˇc, T.: Teaching supply chain management with the beer distribution game on mobile devices. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on eLearning (eLearning ’14), pp. 111–117. Spain (2014) European Commission: Opening up Education through new technologies communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social committee and the Committee of Regions (2013). Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/education/ policy/strategic-framework/education-technology_en.htm European Commission: Scientific Output and Collaboration of European Universities (2013). Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/research/innovation-union/pdf/scientific_output_collaboration_ european_univ.pdf#view=fit&pagemode=none European Forum for Enhanced Collaboration in Teaching: Enhancing the education mission of European universities: a proactive response to change, September 2017. (2017). Retrieved from http://www.eua.be/Libraries/default-document-library/web_effect-principles-onepager16102017.pdf?sfvrsn=2 Frey, C.B., Osborne, M.A.: The future of employment: how susceptible are jobs to computerisation? University of Oxford, September, Oxford Martin School (2013). Retrieved from https://www. oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf Gaebel, M., Kupriyanova, V., Morais, R., Colucci, E.: E-learning in European higher education institutions, Results of a mapping survey conducted in October - December 2013. EUA (2014). Publications Garrison, D.R., Kanuka, H.: Blended learning: uncovering its transformative potential in higher education. Internet High. Educ. 7, 95–105 (2014) Garrison, A., Vaughan, N.: Blended learning in higher education; Framework, principles and guidelines. Wiley, San Francisco (2008) Helsdingen, A., Janssen, B., Schuwer, S.: Business Models in OER, a Contingency Approach. In Proceeding of the Open Education Conference (OpenEd: Barcelona: UOC. OU, BYU (2010) Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Operational programm Education for Competitive Advantage, preparation of Study Materials for Teaching in English, Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences 15, 3800– 3804 (2011) . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.04.376 Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Rosicka, Z.: Programmed learning. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 31, 782–787 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.12.141 Islam, N., Beer, M., Slack, F.: E-learning challenges faced by academics in higher education. J. Educ. Train. Stud. 3(5), 102–112 (2015) Jacob, A.M.: Benefits and Barriers to the Hybridization of Schools. J. Educ. Policy, Plan. Adm. 1(1), 61–82 (2011)

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Lenhart, A.: Teens & Online Video: Shooting, sharing, streaming and chatting social media using teens are the most enthusiastic users of many online video capabilities, Washington: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, 13 pages (2012) Okaz, A.A.: Integrating blended learning in higher education. Procedia - Soc. Behav. Sci. 186, 600–603 (2015) Orliˇc, D., Cestnik, B., Urbanˇciˇc, T.: Supporting teachers in choosing and reusing open educational resources. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on e-Learning (e-Learning’15), pp. 28–33 Berlin, Germany (2015) Orliˇc, D., Cestnik, B., Urbanˇciˇc, T.: What can VideoLectures.Net and transLectures do for opening higher education to the multicultural world. In: Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Computer Systems and Technologies (CompSysTech’14), pp. 409–416. Ruse, Bulgaria (2014) Purg, P., Brasil, D.: New collaboration forms in site-specific blended courses abroad: lessons learned in the ADRIART.net curriculum development project. Int. J. Arts Educ. 11(3), 35–48 (2016) ISSN 2326–9944 Purg, P., Širok, K., Brasil, D.: The transformative impact of blended mobility courses. Int. J. Art & Des. Educ., 1–15 (2016) ISSN 1476–8062 Singh, H.: Building effective blended learning programs. Issue Educ. Technol. 43(6), 51–54 (2003) Smrikarov, A., Vassilev, T., Stefanov, Y.: Adapting the Education System to the Digital Generation. International conference on e-learning (e-Learning’15), pp. 10–15. Berlin, Germany (2015) Svarcova, I., Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Navratil, J.: Crisis Management and Education in Health. In: The European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences EpSBS, Volume XVI, pp. 255–261. Future Academy (2016) Urbanˇciˇc, T., Orliˇc, D.: Opening up education: towards affordable and sustainable solutions. Developing successful strategies for global policies and cyber transparency in E-learning, pp. 133–144. Hershey, Information Science Reference (2013) Yelland, N., Tsembas, S., Hall, L.: E-learning: issues of pedagogy and practice in the information age. Learning and the learner: exploring learning for new times, University of Wollongong, pp. 95–111 (2008)

Problems and Decision-Making Models in the First Cycle of Education Luciana Delli Rocili and Antonio Maturo

Abstract There are two main issues addressed in this chapter. The first one concerns the management of interpersonal relations in the school, in particular the relationship between teachers and students, between teachers and families of the students, and between students and students. The other is the realization of an interdisciplinary teaching that exceeds the fragmentation of knowledge, and unifies the logical structures of the various disciplines. We show that the formal modeling of problems—represented as decisional problems, eventually under uncertainty, with many objectives and decision makers—offers a substantial aid to the solution, or at least to clarify the problems, and to reach a consensus. Moreover, fuzzy reasoning, more flexible and adaptable of the classic reasoning, helps in the analysis of relations and in the evaluation of alternatives. Keywords Teaching and relationships experiences in primary school · Formalization with crisp and fuzzy models · Decision making under uncertainty · Multiperson decision making

1 Introduction Teaching, be it disciplinary or interdisciplinary, raises the problem of relationships between teachers, who have their personal views and mindsets, and are often not very eager to make substantial changes to their teaching methods. On the other hand, the constrictive changes imposed by new laws, regulations, guidelines and ministerial standards, if not fully endorsed by those who should implement them, are reduced to L. Delli Rocili Istituto Comprensivo Statale Pescara 5, Via Gioberti n. 15, 65100 Pescara, Italy e-mail: [email protected] A. Maturo (B) Dipartimento Di Architettura, Università G. d’Annunzio di Chieti-Pescara, Viale Pindaro, 42, 65127 Pescara, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_19

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mere soulless formalities without any backing, and therefore they could even hamper the achievement of concrete results. Indeed, at school, positive outcomes are strongly linked to the enthusiasm and the possibility and ability of teachers to freely express themselves according to their own views and believes. Teaching in an elementary school, two types of problems have a significant importance: the relationships between the various groups who work or study, or interact with the school environment, and the performance and coordination of educational activities. The first problem involves the need for management and coordination of various types of interpersonal relationships: between teachers and students, between teachers and families, students and families, and even within each of the groups, the teachers among themselves, students among themselves, and the families among themselves. Some of these social aspects, psychological problems and decision-making models are deepened in Delli Rocili and Maturo (2013, 2017), Hošková-Mayerová and Maturo (2013, 2016, 2017). Chapters on these topics are in the books Ventre et al. (2013), Maturo et al. (2017) and Hošková-Mayerová et al. (2017). The other problem is the realization of an interdisciplinary teaching that exceeds the fragmentation of knowledge, and unifies the logical structures of the various disciplines, often perceived very different. Indeed, this often causes disorientation in students who are supposed to be able to mediate between different points of view, varying according to the language, the teaching style and to the teacher’s personality and character. In particular, the present chapter will analyze in-depth the common logical structures between mathematical reasoning and syntactically correct linguistic expressions. Further considerations on the need for interdisciplinary teaching are in Delli Rocili and Maturo (2015). We aim to show how a formal modeling of problems, represented with decision models, eventually under uncertainty, with many objectives and many decision makers, provides substantial help to the solution. Anyhow, it helps to clarify issues and to build consensus or at least one agreement between the various individuals and the various groups that interact in the school environment. The in-depth analysis of possible alternatives, and the quantification of the possible advantages may lead to understand, to evaluate and to appreciate new educational and organizational initiatives. In this context, informatics tools can also be useful for the evaluation of excellence in the school, in order to identify strategies for the improvement of learning. Some of these tools are proposed and applied in Ceccatelli et al. (2013a, b), Hošková-Mayerová (2011) and Svatoˇnová and Hošková-Mayerová (2017). Further considerations on motivation to study and work with talented students and education and training in crisis management are in the papers Hošková-Mayerová (2011, 2014, 2016) and Hošková-Mayerová and Rosická (2014, 2015). We show also how the fuzzy reasoning, more flexible and adaptable of the classic reasoning, helps in the analysis of relations, and evaluation of educational and organizational alternatives. In fact, fuzzy logic admits that different opinions and different assessments can co-exist, each with its own degree of truth. Opposing viewpoints could not only be present simultaneously, but also integrate and be of mutual help in the complex phenomenon of integration in the social world through school.

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An in-depth discussion of these and other aspects of fuzzy logic is carried out in Zadeh (1965, 1975), Klir and Yuan (1995), Ross (1995) and Ragin (2000). A formalization of some aspects of the Social Organization by means of the fuzzy set theory is in Maturo et al. (2008).

2 Information, Training, Competition and Cooperation We believe that it is appropriate to reflect on the general objectives of teaching in the first cycle school. Some of them, sometimes conflicting, are information, training, competition, and cooperation. The school of the past, even recently, was only a transmission of knowledge that led to the competition. The best students were gratified and the kids least prepared were vilified and often punished. Cooperation often expressed simply in exchange homework, not having time to do them all or to copy the classmate. But each one kept for himself his knowledge as a tool for succeeding in class and compete. The school of notionism was fought because it focused on “knowledge” rather than on “know-how”. “Knowledge” was deemed indispensable rather than the acquired “skills”; the pupil brought with him a “cultural baggage” consisting of a large number of knowledge not always useful or spendable in the future life and it was not important to make the boy able to find original solutions to the problems he was facing in life inside of society (continuous learning). The school as a training was based on authoritarianism in which it was taught to obey certain rules even under the threat of corporal punishment. Currently we tend to prefer, as the school aims, to train compared to information, even for a minor importance of the school as an institution that informs, surpassed by everyday use outside school of advanced technology, which allows for quickly all kinds of information. The use of computers at school offers the opportunity for young people to interact in the teaching-learning process with a tool that they know naturally and the teacher takes on the role of researcher and organizer of the research, with the task of selecting information, to initiate a critical reading of the contents and to promote the exploration of the surrounding reality in a conscious way. The importance of the school for information, however, is anything but exhausted. The great mass of data, that are available each day, has no meaning for those who have not learned to understand, sort and classify information, with logical and rational criteria. Teaching this is still one of the most important tasks of the school. There is much talk of cooperation, but many initiatives seem to be going in the opposite direction, enhancing the competition. An example is constituted by INVALSI tests, which not only seem to favor the competition, but, according to many teachers, are often designed for a short-term competition resulting in damage to the long-term. Race goes well, it can also be very fun, but marginalizes the less gifted students and schools in the most difficult environmental and social conditions. Furthermore, wanting to race to win before reaching a satisfactory mental and physical fitness

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leads to mental doping and damage efforts without proper training. The slow and methodical training is the real workout that creates thought athletes. The school then has the task of enhancing the spirit of cooperation between students, schools, teachers of various levels, perhaps through study meetings, joint projects, conferences and workshops in which everyone can present their progress and discuss them with others. Competitiveness needs to be encouraged, but above the long-term result of a serene training, cooperation and targeted information, not diverted by short-term objectives. In any case, information, training, competition and cooperation are four objectives that schools must achieve, each in an appropriate measure. The mathematical models, through theoretical tools of decision making and game theory, allow us to make decisions that involve a rational and effective mediation between these objectives. In order to perform such modeling, it is necessary to identify, define and share common objectives, coordinating energies, organize the work of the group, provide for the distribution of profits, including intangibles, and involve families. Formalization, with the theory of cooperative games and that of group decisions, makes clear understanding of the benefits of co-operation than strictly competitive behavior.

3 The Management of Conflict and Relationality In the old-school approach, conflicts and relationality among students were managed with an authoritarian system by the teacher who distributed prizes and even corporal punishment, suspension and so on. In recent times, it is less and less possible to have authoritarian attitudes, and relationships among students must be handled with the authority deriving from a preparation on pedagogical and psychological aspects, and even in the understanding and modeling of the problems that arise. A mathematical tool for understanding the relationship problems consists of the socio-metric matrices introduced by Moreno (1951, 1953), which give the possibility to identify the various groups present in the classroom, with respect to various types of relationships, and to understand how to intervene in difficult situations. The starting point for managing relationships within a class is the identification of a working itinerary including at least three fundamental moments: (1) Investigate and analyze social relations between pupils. (2) Act by organizing activities for the realization of socio-affective objectives previously identified. (3) Make checks and assessments through the tabulation and comparison of the data collected. On the basis of the objectives outlined above, the application of sociometric tests by Moreno appears particularly significant. They allow us to study the social relationships in a scientific manner and provide a large amount of data and information, in order to manage conflicts and relationships within a class. This also has an immediate benefit from an educational point of view, because, once managed the tensions within

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the classroom, there is a greater possibility for the students to focus on learning and research done in the classroom. The sociometric test is a tool that allows us to determine the extent to which individuals are accepted into a group, to discover the relationships between individuals, to study the nature of the group, to determine the location of each child within the group. The test has the advantages of simplicity of use and rapidity in the administration. The sociometric technique consists in asking each individual to declare which, of the existing companions in class, would prefer to join forces to perform certain activities and in particular situations. Each child must indicate at least one companion. From the answers obtained we get square matrices, called sociometric matrices, of order equal to the number of pupils in the class, in which the rows represent individuals who make choices and columns represent the selected individuals (Moreno 1951, 1953; Sciarra 2007; Hošková-Mayerová and Maturo 2013, 2016, 2017). Let S = {S1 , S2 , …, Sn } be the set of students in the class. If MA , with general term mA ij , is the sociometric matrix obtained from interviews related to an activity A, A we have mA ij = 1 if the student Si chooses Sj for the activity A, and we have mij = 0 otherwise. The marginal row of the matrix has generic element rA j equal to the number of choices received from the student Sj , while the marginal column has generic element fA i , equal to the number of persons selected by the student Si (Table 1). In relation to the activity A, the value rA j indicates how the individual Sj is liked by the group (called the degree of social receptivity, associated to (A), while fA i indicates the desire to socialize of Si (called the degree of socio-affective expansion, associated to A). To have a complete representation of socialization within the class, we must identify more areas of activity, also called association criteria (e.g. play, work, leisure) and to establish a maximum number of people that a child can choose for each activity. The analysis of the obtained sociometric matrices can be limited to the various representations and interpretations of the marginal row (choices received) and marginal column (choices made), for each activity.

Table 1 Sociometric matrix with marginal row and marginal column Activity A

S1

S2

Sj

Sn

Choices done

S1

mA 12 mA 22

mA 1j mA 2j

mA 1n mA 2n

fA 1

S2

mA 11 mA 21

.

.

.

.

.

.

Si

mA i1

mA i2

mA ij

mA in

fA i

.

.

.

.

.

.

Sn

mA n rA 1

mA n2 rA 2

mA nj rA j

mA nn rA n

fA n

Choices received

fA 2

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Wanting to consider jointly the degree of social receptivity and the degree of socioaffective expansion of each child with respect to a given activity, we can represent A A every child with the point PA i = (ri , fi ) of the plane. This allows to obtain various information including: 1. The identification of groups, by means of cluster analysis algorithms; 2. The identification of linear or functional links between the social receptivity and socio-affective expansion within the group. Furthermore, by defining a distance in R2 , the children are represented by points of a metric space. We can consider the center, associated with the introduced distance (typically the center of gravity, considering the Euclidean distance) and identify the children that being more distant from the center, may have the need for some intervention to bring them closer to others. Considering all the activities together, and, for each activity, social receptivity and socio-affective expansion, if there are h activities, each child is represented by a point of the numerical space with dimension 2h. In this space mathematical models and statistical studies can lead to identify, with scientific accuracy, classifications and appropriate interventions that are necessary.

4 A Case Study with Application of Sociometric Matrices A case study of several years ago, but very significant for how it was presented and how it was dealt with, concerns a teaching experience of the teacher Luciana Delli Rocili. After being prepared for sociometric evaluation for having attended various refresher courses, she was able to face and to solve scientifically the difficult problems of a second class formed during the school year by pupils of various origins and with various problems. In addition to the deficiencies and learning difficulties manifested by children, the most urgent problem to be solved was constituted by the serious failure of sociability and discipline, which did not allow to organize and implement any type of education or educational intervention activities. There were many negative components interacting in the situation of the group—class. These needed to be carefully identified and analyzed. The existence of some ‘small provokers’, the presence of a significant number of children in socio-cultural disadvantage or learning difficulties, or suffering from disabilities especially with regard to the psychic sphere, created major problems of adaptation and determined a situation extremely aggressive in all children. The presence of persons not welcome to the group, the lack of interpersonal relationships between pupils in the class, the need to establish a level even the slightest of discipline and tranquility, have convinced the teacher that it was necessary to focus on affective, emotional and social aspects of children’s lives.

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In order to get a picture of the class situation and be able to intervene, the teacher Luciana Delli Rocili has prepared a working itinerary based on three sociometric tests relating to three of association criteria: play, work, leisure. On this basis, the teacher has distributed to the class, consisting of 15 children, a questionnaire with the following questions: Question. 1: Which children would you prefer to play during recreation? Question. 2: Which companions would like to work to build and paint the wall charts that illustrate the seasons of the year? Question. 3: At your birthday party, which classmates in your class would you invite? In the first phase of the research, each student was asked to indicate only one choice for each criterion. Then each ordered pair of students (u, v) has been associated with an ordered triplets of numbers xyz, where x is the indicator of the first criterion, y that of the second criterion and z that of the third. Each of these indicators is 1 if the child u has chosen v with respect to the assigned criterion and is 0 if u has not chosen v. The results obtained are shown in Table 2. For the sake of clarity, the triplets xyz consisting of all zero values are not shown in the table. Table 2 is suitable for many mathematical elaborations, depending on the point of view. For example, if we consider for each child B the point of the plane (Br, Bm), with Br number of choices received and Bm number of choices made, we obtain Table 3, in which each element represents a point of the plane.

Table 2 Results of the first sociometric survey

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Table 3 Children represented as points of the plan

3

Valeria

Sabrina Vincenzo

Marco

Francesco

2

Monica

1

Simone

Francesca Nedy Wendy Jessica Andrea Renzo Sem Gianluca

0

1

0 Choices made

2

3

Choices received

From Table 3 we can have various types of divisions in groups of children. For example, we could define: • The “high socialization group (hsg)”, formed by children B such that (Br ≥ 2, Bm ≥ 2), i.e. {Valerio, Marco, Sabrina, Vincenzo, Francesco}. • The “low socialization group (lsg)” as the set of children B such that (Br ≤ 1, Bm ≤ 1), i.e. {Simone, Francesca, Jessica, Andrea, Sem, Gianluca}. • The “asymmetric group oriented to social receptivity (srg)” as the set {B: Br ≥ 2, Bm ≤ 1}, i.e. {Nedi, Wendy, Renzo}. • The “asymmetric group oriented to socio-affective expansion (seg) as the set {B: Br ≤ 1, Bm ≥ 2}, i.e. {Monica}. Starting from the data revealed by the sociometric survey, integrated and confirmed for the most part also from direct observation and interviews with previous teachers, the teacher Luciana Delli Rocili began to organize educational activities, relying on preferences and emerged elective relationships with the purpose of being able to get to form functional groups in which children “isolated” also could have the possibility of inclusion and valorisation. For example, from the observation of Table 2 we can see that Monica and Simone were rather marginal compared to the others, while Francesco and Vincenzo obtained a high liking of their peers with respect to each criterion. Furthermore, 9 of the 15 children had chosen the same companion for all activities. It was therefore necessary to enhance the attitudes of isolated children in the eyes of the class and to show that every child can be appreciated for his specific skills. In subsequent phases of the research, it was placed the limit to choose a maximum of three persons, and the related tables with more complex meanings have been analyzed. This type of work has also given the possibility to compare concrete and reliable data, through the administration of other sociometric tests at regular intervals of

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time, in order to have valid observation criteria about any changes made to the starting situation.

5 The Analytic Hierarchy Process of Saaty for Decisions Making In order to make a decision, it is first of all necessary to clarify what are the objectives and how to measure the degree of achievement of these objectives. Examples of objectives are: learning, social growth, proper competitiveness inside and outside the school. The degree of achievement of these objectives is evaluated through various types of measures: measures of competitiveness (votes, judgments), cooperation (assessment of group work, degree of involvement, products obtained, relations with the outside, organization and division of task). Measures can be objective, subjective, precise, imprecise (fuzzy), related to events (probability). Competition in sports and games accustoms children to various types of competitive measures (e.g. in running, in tennis) and even cooperation (e.g. in football). The hierarchical analytical method of Saaty (1980, 2008) requires rational and analytical criteria to arrive at decisions. We must identify a general objective GO; the specific objectives O1 , O2 , …, On ; the criteria C1 , C2 , …, Ck with which we measure the achievement of these objectives, the alternatives A1 , A2 , …, Am of action/choice and a panel of decision-makers D1 , D2 , …, Dp suitable, i.e. experts of issues that they examine (Saaty 1980, 2008; Maturo and Ventre 2009a, b, c; Maturo and Ventre 2017). Let us use the notations by Knuth (1973) for the graph theory. To represent the decision-making problem, we construct a digraph G whose vertices are divided into four levels. 1. At level 1 is the overall objective GO. By GO come out n arcs of the graph each having as second extreme a specific objective. 2. At level 2 there are the specific objectives. From each specific objective come out k arcs of the graph each having as second extreme a criterion. 3. At level 3 there are the criteria that implicitly define the specific objectives. From each criterion come out m arcs connecting criteria to alternatives; 4. At level 4, there are the alternatives. Task of decision-makers is to assign a score to each arc of the digraph G with the following constraints: (1) Each score is a non-negative real number. (2) The sum of the scores of the outgoing arcs from the same vertex is equal to 1. (3) The score of an outgoing arc (u, v) from GO or from a specific objective must represent the extent to which v “explains” u.

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(4) The score of an arc (Cj , Ai ) is the extent to which the alternative Ai fulfills the criterion Cj . The characteristic of the Saaty method is to get those scores with the method of pairwise comparison of outgoing arcs from the same vertex, first using qualitative assessments and then transforming the latter into numerical scores. Then we obtain: (A) A matrix of pairwise comparison of the specific objectives to the overall objective. (B) A set of n matrices of pairwise comparison of criteria with respect to each of the specific objectives. (C) A set of k matrices of pairwise comparison of alternatives with respect to each of the criteria. From these matrices, considering the maximum eigenvalue and the eigenvector associated, we get the scores of all the arcs of the graph. Then we calculate the score of each path in the graph as a product of the scores of the arcs belonging to the path. Finally, the score of each vertex V of the graph, different from GO, is the sum of the scores of the paths that come out from GO and arrive in V. As a consequence, we have that the sum of scores of the vertices belonging to a same level is always equal to 1. At this point each alternative has its own score and the choice problem is solved. For each pair of alternatives, the best is the one with the highest score, the worst the one with score lower. If two alternatives have equal scores, then they are equally preferable Application of Saaty method in teaching is present in Delli Rocili and Maturo (2017), in which the overall objective is GO = “A good school”. The specific objectives are O1 = “Learning”, O2 = “Experience and critical thinking”, O3 = “Conscious citizenship”. The alternatives are various ways to program the teaching.

6 New Mathematical Tools for the Formalization of Relations in Schools: Fuzzy Sets and Algebraic Hyperstructures We can further deepen the analysis of relationships in schools, using theories based on some recent developments in mathematics. They require appropriate questionnaires with slight modifications compared to those of Moreno. Two of these mathematical tools are particularly significant: fuzzy sets and algebraic hyperstructures. The algebraic hyperstructures were introduced the first time in a paper of Marty (1935), but their systematic study took place mainly during the last 30 years. The fundamental points of reference are the books of Corsini (1993) and Corsini and Leoreanu (2003). The applications of algebraic hyperstructures to the study of social rela-

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tionships are very recent (Leoreanu-Fotea and Corsini 2010; Vougiouklis 2011; Vougiouklis and Nikolaidou 2017; Hošková-Mayerová and Maturo 2013, 2016, 2017). Some related topics are deepened in Vougiouklis and Vougiouklis (2016), HoškováMayerová (2017) and Maturo and Porreca (2016). The fuzzy sets are based on the fact that a proposition does not always take as truth values only values: false or true. In the communication of all days most of the propositions of spoken language assumes intermediate truth values between false and true, such as “more true than false”, “more false than true”, “a little true, “a little false” and so on. The fundamentals of fuzzy logic and arithmetic are in Zadeh (1965, 1975), Klir and Yuan (1995) and Ross (1995). Alternative fuzzy operations for mathematical models are considered in Maturo and Hošková-Mayerová (2016). The Moreno’s sociometric tests can be modified in version fuzzy. For example, the three questions in Sect. 4 may be reformulated as follows: Question 1 in fuzzy version: To what extent would you like to play during the recreation with the baby/child Xxxx? Question 2 in fuzzy version: To what extent would you like to work with the companion Xxxx to build and paint the wall charts that illustrate the seasons of the year? Question 3 in fuzzy version: To what extent would you invite to your birthday party, the companion Xxxx of your class? Possible answers could be: no, little, enough, very, completely. Attributing the scores 0; 0.2; 0.5; 0.8; 1; to the answers for no, little, enough, very, completely, respectively, we get fuzzy sociometric matrices that can lead to further results than classic Moreno matrices. The theory of algebraic hyperstructures is based on a generalization of the concept of operation and on an interdisciplinary vision of Algebra and Geometry. An operation ⊕ in a set H is a law that associates to every ordered pair (a, b) of elements of H a third element, indicated with a ⊕ b, the result of the operation. More generally, a hyperoperation ⊕ in H is a law that associates to every ordered pair (a, b) of elements of H a non-empty subset of H, indicated with a ⊕ b, said “block identified by the ordered pair (a, b)”. Geometric examples of hyperoperations are: 1. The law that to every ordered pair (a, b) of points (of the plane or space) associates the points of the segment with extremes a and b; 2. The law that to every ordered pair (a, b) of points (of the plane or space) associates the set of the points of the straight line passing through a and b. An application of hyperstructures to get new types of sociometric matrices is to ask the pairs (a, b) of children to answer questions in Sect. 4, with the proviso that the first child proposes a nonempty set of children invited and the second accepts or excludes everyone. If the child b does not accept any of those proposed by the child a, then a must propose other names. The procedure continues until b has accepted at least one name. We get a hyperoperation ⊕ in S, set of children, in which the block a ⊕ b is the set of children accepted by (a, b).

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Another application of hyperstructures is in the analysis of Moreno matrices. If Si and Sj are two children, we can define Si ⊕ Sj as the set of children Sk with A A A A A characteristic “between” those of Si and Sj , e.g. such that (rA i ≤ rk ≤ rj ; fi ≤ fk ≤ fj ).

7 Conclusions The results of the experiments conducted in the classroom showed that applications of decision models described have led to a detailed understanding of various aspects: 1. relations within the class; 2. the effectiveness of educational choices within the class. The proposed decision models can improve knowledge of the applicability and validity of various methods for effective education and training to citizenship. This knowledge led the teacher to take actions that have improved the situation of interpersonal relationships within the class, which initially appeared very difficult. It was also possible to prepare a learning path calibrated to the characteristics of the class. A further experimentation is scheduled starting from the administration of the fuzzy version of the questions. Other studies will start from the representation of students as points of a metric space and their classification by cluster analysis algorithms. Finally, many researches can be linked to algebraic hyperstructures, and their geometric representations, that permit the classification of students by various points of view. The proposed decision models, sociometric matrices, their fuzzy extensions, the various interpretations with the tool of algebraic hyperstructures, can improve the knowledge and effectiveness of the various methods for teaching planning, for example, effective learning, thought critical and training for citizenship.

References Ceccatelli, C., Di Battista, T., Fortuna, F., Maturo, F.: L’item response theory come strumento di valutazione delle eccellenze nella scuola. Sci. Philos. 1(1), 143–156 (2013a) Ceccatelli, C., Di Battista, T., Fortuna, F., Maturo, F.: Best practices to improve the learning of statistics: the case of the national olympics of statistic in Italy. Procedia–Soc. Behav. Sci. 93, 2194–2199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.10.186 (2013b) Corsini, P.: Prolegomena of Hypergroup Theory. Aviani Editore, USA (1993) Corsini, P., Leoreanu, V.: Applications of Hyperstructure Theory. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Hardbound (2003) Delli Rocili, L., Maturo, A.: Teaching mathematics to children: social aspects, psychological problems and decision-making models. In: Soitu, D., Gavriluta, C., Maturo, A. (eds.) Interdisciplinary Approaches in Social Sciences. Editura Universitatii A.I. Cuza, Iasi, Romania (2013)

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Visual Literacy and Teaching in the Education of Mother Language Gamze Çelik

Abstract This chapter is dealing with how teachers use visual literacy especially in their lessons for mother language lessons. We can infer visual’s messages better via visuals smoothly. It is vital because of our lives. Subjects’ of this study were 4th class students of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkish Language Education Department. The investigation was done with 8 students (6 females and 2 males) in the campus in the spring semester of 2017–2018 education year. The data of the study were collected by using qualitative approaches. In addition, document analysis was used in the study. As a result, content analysis was performed on the data of the research. In the study, researcher described visual literacy and then gave detailed explanation about it. Finally, researcher presented student’s activities and their feedbacks about visual literacy. The study results revealed that photographs and pictures can be used by making relation with visuals and texts in class environment for mother language education and training for better learning outcome. Keywords Visual literacy · Education · Photographs · Drawings · Literature · Visual props

1 Introduction Today technology is changing in a very fast pace. Not very long ago, we start using smart phones, social media, robot’s technology and visuals. People learn how to use new literacies; media literacy, environment literacy, technology literacy, information literacy and visual literacy under this umbrella term. This new way of life, affects education at the same time as well. Students need to use new technologies in their classes and lessons.

G. Çelik (B) Faculty of Education, Secondary Schools Social Sciences Education, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Turkey e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_20

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Today’s students, were born to a world surrounded by new technologies. They learn how to use computers at very early ages either by their interests or their family’s expectations. They often spend much time playing video games. Every day, they use their mobile phones. Every moment, when they see something interesting around them, they usually take photos. They can see their photos, simultaneously with their smart devices. Hand cams, personal digital devices and their players have sophisticated technologies in modern world. According to Prensky (2001), college graduates spend less than 5000 h for reading in their lives. Reading effects humans’ behaviours in a positive way. On the other hand, they spend 10,000 h playing video games. It is too long to spare. Besides, they watch TV approximately 20,000 h, it is understood from these figures that they are getting used to living with technological facilities. When compared people’s spending time with reading and playing video games and also watching TV, we can see the big differences. Prensky (2001) named them “Digital Natives”. Because he thinks about our students today are all “native speakers” of the digital language and all technological tools. Not the digital immigrants as the previous generations. So, native speakers use skilfully technology and they can adapt novelties easily. Some researchers (Gerard 2008; Shurtleff 2006; Frey and Fisher 2010; Robertson 2007; Lee 2010) clearly showed us, teachers need new materials whenever they teach to the students. Because students can lose their attention in a short span of time if they aren’t interested in the topics covered. Students have a world which is rich in visuals. They want to watch and control every time of the world. But once they come to the schools, lessons can be boring for them. Presentation is very old technic, in which teachers only talk to the students one way in front of the black/white board. We can use videos, pictures, arts etc. when reading a text. This is very important for mother language lessons. It doesn’t depend on which language is taught. Visuals can be combined with literature. Because visuals are universal in any medium.

2 What is Visual Literacy? Visual literacy has many different definitions. First definition was done by John Debes in 1969. According to Debes; visual literacy is a group of visual-competencies. Humans can develop these skills. Also can be include other sensory experiences (Debes 1969). Debes wants to tell us, actually every training has visual literacy skills. But we can develop our visual literacy skills with education. So we can infer from our environment smoothly. Also, we can understand visual messages and communication easily. People can create visuals with this skill. Visible actions, objects, symbols, natural or man-made materials can be more understandable and clear for us. According to another researcher; visual literacy develops understanding of images especially in the media. Visual literacy is important for communication in a big extend (Newfield 2011).

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Shurtleff (2006) claimed that visual literacy tries to adapt new ideas to pre-existing ones in accordance with schemas. Then the brain combined past visual practices with new visual messages. Finally, the brain infers new meanings. All of the researchers who made descriptions for the term made their own identification for visual literacy. According to the researcher; visual literacy has been defined as the ability to make sense of the messages given with visuals and produce new messages with them by using information technologies availing oneself of this opportunity for innovations (Çelik 2017).

3 Visuals in Education In recent years, we have the facing with new way of life. We can communicate simultaneously to our friends with help of internet and social media. Everything is very fast. So students can become distracted easily. Teachers should work more to concentrate or get student’s interest. Visuals can give effective assistance at this very point to the teachers. Visual literacy began to develop in the 1960s, when John Debes and others founded the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA). A group of people wonder when visuals are used in education and communication, and how they affect them. By the way, they want to organize conferences on visual literacy. So they started their works in the fall of 1968 in New York. The group members were Jack Debes of Kodak, Clarence Williams, Sam Ross, Colin Turbayne, Paul Wendt and Richard Nibeck. In 1969 nearly 350 people came to Rochester from different disciplines. They presented papers and people found a chance to discuss their ideas about visual literacy. IVLA publishes a book called “Selected Readings” after each conference as a routine (IVLA 2011). Conferences have been held in various countries. Like Sweden, Greece, England, the Netherlands are some of those. Furthermore, last one is “Journal of Visual Literacy” (JVL) published semi-annually by International Visual Literacy Association 2017. In education, and especially mother language lessons, teacher can use photographs. When a teacher uses a photograph, also adds different layer of complexity to the lessons. Since, every photograph is created at one point in time, the time is very important detail. The time the photo taken includes the date of a historical event, such as the end of World War II. Furthermore, the photograph means a special occasion for people. It can be a wedding, a birthday or an anniversary. The photograph can contain different places. For example; the place can be a country, a town, a particular building. Also photographer and the subject is important point for a photograph. A photograph can keep a moment forever. All photographs may have different purposes. Some photos aims are, to record important events. Others can offer artistic depictions. If we know photographs’ aim, we can interpret the photo in an easy way (Sieber 2012).

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Sims et al. (2002) noted that visuals increase attention. According to Çelik and Çekiç’s (2014) research; participants inferred that, visuals makes the lessons interesting. Also visuals can help effective learning. According to Messaris (Messaris 1994 cited from Newfield 2011) visual education have four major goals: 1. To use visual media asa a range of visual forms, including diagrams, graphs by editing and other technological effects. 2. To improve cognitive abilities through the specific qualities of the visuals. 3. Awareness of visual manipulation, for example impairment and misinformation in advertising, political campaigns and propagandas. 4. Aesthetic pleasure of the visual arts and visual skills in all forms of visual communications.

4 Usage of Photographs in Visual Literacy Photos have the ability of copying images forever. The moment cannot be caught once again when lost. We can keep the moment with photos. Photos are produced with two technical methods. First one is chemical method. It is used with the light’s effect on some materials. The other method is physical method. It creates images with optic mechanism (Barthes 2014, pp. 16–21). In education visuals play vital roles. The curriculum can be support with photographs. Teachers can use written materials for educational support. That is, materials props can be enriched with photographs. Because photographs show reality and direct authenticity of life. Students can connect them with their own lives. This cycle set up bridge between their culture and other cultures. Photographs can create direct sensory connection between individuals. By way of photos learners can have interest and attention to the lessons. On the other hand, teaching with photographs creates students with higher levels of visual literacy (Sieber 2012). Photograph Types: 1. Explicative photographs: They are explaining different situation. Every person can describe different things when they look this kind of photos. 2. Theoretical (cognitive) photographs. This kind of photos, have different technics. 3. Explanatory Photographs: They are like explicative photographs. They give some information to us about a specific topic. So we can infer the things or situation better. 4. Ethic Photographs: They give messages about ethic rules. 5. Aesthetics Photographs: Some beautiful things can be framed in a aesthetic way. 6. Descriptive Photographs: Its only aim is the things and people’s on target in this type (Barrett 2012, pp. 151–154). “The act of evaluation is like a photo or an art object which give an effect on a person about that item and describing feeling about that either verbally or written by that a person” (Eren 2006).

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Barrett (2012), pp. 278–281 suggest us about critiquing a photograph: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Describe what you see, View the material very attentively, Investigate between the form and the topic with relation, Your comment should be a common effort of the product, You can comment with a group, Keep the photographer voices silent, Think about the questions that photo brings to your mind. Don’t hurry up, Be careful about the environment, Be clear and honest.

5 Ussage of Pictures in Visual Literacy Since the early ages pictures have been a way of fun, aesthetics and communication. The Renaissance was period of revival of interest to the picture. Painters began draw a pictures of nature and beauty outside. In this way, impressionism movement started. Afterwards, orientalism movement effected to pictures. East affected the way of pictures (Kılıç 1996, pp. 50–51). Picture Types Simple Drawing They are such as newspaper, magazine, book’s pictures. Outline Drawing It tells a person or a situation by describing with easy outlines. Flashlight Cards They consist of small table series. One person, one thing or one situation can be described with picture series. Figures They use canvas or fustian with wood. They have a person or a thing for figures. Figures are cut from each sides. Wall Pictures This kind of pictures put on the wall. They are prepared in artistic way. Boards They have writing and drawings together. They are made from tick cardboard. Posters They are prepared like boards. They are used generally for advertisement (Demirel 2002, p. 54).

6 Student’s Activities with Visuals 6.1 Visual Material Props The aim of this study is using visual literacy in class for mother language lessons. For this reason, the researcher used text with pictures and photographs. This study

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demonstrates, how visual literacy can develop with class activities. Because visual literacy skills can be developed. Researcher implied that reality from various studies (Debes 1969; Shurtleff 2006; Gerrard 2008; Lee 2010). In this study, subjects were 4th class of Turkish Language Teaching students Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkish Language Education Department. They used visual activities in Classical Literature and Critical and Analytical Thinking Lessons. The lessons were given by the researcher. Visuals have various materials. For instance; pictures, photographs, diagrams, videos, sculptures. In this investigation, researcher chose specifically photographs and pictures. Since, all teachers can find these visuals in all environment easily. The data of this study were collected by using qualitative approaches. In addition, document analysis was used in the study. Finally, content analysis was performed on the data of the study (Creswell 2013, pp. 191–192).

6.2 First Text: Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi’s Seven Advices The first text is above from Mevlana. Mevlana is a philosopher. He lived in Anatolia. He wanted to advise awareness to the people, through love. The researcher asked these questions below, In generosity and helping others be like a river, In compassion and grace be like a sun, In concealing other’s faults be like night, In anger and fury be like dead, In modesty and humanity be like earth, In tolerance be like a sea, Either exist as you are or be as you look (A˘gırba¸slı 2008).

After reading the advice sentences above researcher asked students to draw their feelings about the wisdom sentences on empty paper. Drawings and feelings of the subjects in Fig. 1. First student explained her drawing as: “One hand reaches out to the world” (Fig. 2). Second student explained her drawing as: “Another universe in Mevlana’s words (words of wisdom) can be different from the world, as we live today. He is the symbol of humanism culmination point which has spread out all over the world. For this reason, he either didn’t want to dominate the world with slightest desire, but still, he has dominated the world of love as well. So the world is under his feet” (Fig. 3). Third student explained her drawing as: “You came from the soil. You will go to the soil.”

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Fig. 1 First student

6.3 Second Text: Maxim Gorky My Universities My Universities was written by Gorky in 1884–1888 which are his famous autobiographical trilogy. The writer tells us, not only Russian urban poor but also his life, youth, his dreams and life experiences. He wants to study in a university. But at the end, he couldn’t go to a university unfortunately. Maybe better than that, he was graduated university of life (Wilks 2017). After reading Gorky’s novel “My Universities”, researcher asked students to draw the education environment portrayed in the book of Gorky on an empty paper (Fig. 4). Fourth student explained her drawing as: “What I want to tell is Gorky observed and read. But situations and people changed. But Gorky remain unchanged. In the end, My Universities comes out as life experience” (Fig. 5). Fifth student explained his drawing as: “Isn’t it that person’s life is the biggest education?” (Fig. 6). Sixth student explained her drawing as: “War and poorness, people who read and enlightened.”

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Fig. 2 Second student

6.4 Samples for Photograph Explanations Here are two student’s advices on photographs. These photographs were taken by 4th class Turkish Language Education students (Figs. 7 and 8). …This photo can be ascribed as theoretical (cognitive) photograph. It is a kind of technic which takes raindrops. There is a building and raindrops. Photograph was taken with skewed technic and it was presented as it was… When I look the photo, I see people and building. Behind scenery there is a ship. There are plants near the venue which I suppose a cafe. There are many people; young, old a girl holding a suitcase and lots of people checking out their mobiles. This photo reminded me

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Fig. 3 Third student

Fig. 4 Fourth student

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Fig. 5 Fifth student

Fig. 6 Sixth student

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Fig. 7 Taken by Fatma GÜL and described by seventh student

the old ˙Istanbul. If it is edited with colours it can reflect the past not today. But the crowd is hindering it. The shoe shiner in the front and the old people recalled me the toil of life. One side of photo, there is “aesthetic photo” reminding and causing to thing every aspect of ˙Istanbul. On the other side, there is an “descriptive photo” as I dive into deeps trying to define and reflect different lives…

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Fig. 8 Taken by Enes D˙IK˙IC˙I and described by eighth student

7 Conclusion Nowadays, visuals surrounded our world. So people both education and working lives, need visual literacy skills. The researcher aims to develop the mother language lessons activities using text with photographs and pictures. In this way the researcher wants to understand, how visual literacy can develop class activities. “Thinking about descriptive, interpretive and evaluating of the material increases individual’s attention significantly toward the art piece and changes his/her perception of the work to the great extend” (Barrett 2012, p. 29). Shurtleff (2006) performed an application with visual literacy activities. In this research video production and storyboarding were used. Finally, the researcher is able to notice that students began giving importance to reading. This study suggest similar results as postulated before too. Students can much more easily remember the information both new and old. At the same time, visuals improved their imagination in this study as well. Journalists have classical questions such as; “what, who, when, why and how?”. These questions are an ideal first step for understanding visuals too (Sieber 2012). In this research students also ask these questions as a routine. It is important when a person thinking about a photograph evaluation.

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Golubieski (2003), draw attention to use visuals in the class. For example; when students talking about photographs and drawings in the history textbook they can benefit from visuals. Hoskova-Mayerova (2011, 2014) made a research in University of Defence. In this university students learn mathematics and physics in the English language. The researcher stated that, a classroom communication should be similar to real life. Teachers use it when they give lessons in foreign language; neither body language nor non-verbal means are used. In these lessons they gave lessons by using videos, conferences and recording lectures. This is the best practice for students. In this way, students are able to explain themselves with a foreign language in real life environment authentically. Culture is the life style of any nation. Since this life style constitutes the language, learning a language and meeting with that lifestyle means adopting it after a certain period of time. Because language, not only transfers the culture to the people belonging to the same nationality, but also it introduces, teaches and let that culture adopted to the people belonging to different nations. Due to this characteristic of the language, governments can form policies and develop methods and approaches to accomplish their targets (Avcı 2012). Visuals generally show cultural features. They can use with target language when introducing to a new culture. Contuni and Maturo (2010) found in their research; 88% Italian, 85% foreigner and 87% non-Italian parent students agreed about Italian schools give education with equal conditions. Besides, according to interviewed students; one can learn culture and history of Europe and its residents. Another important point, the classroom is as a place of communication and cooperation, the plurality of belonging and the values that are considered important in real life. Turkish and Italian researchers agree about importance of communication in the class. And also, using visuals are good tool to facilitate and foster communication. Hoskova-Mayerova and Maturo (2016, 2018a, b, c) claimed that, natural way of interaction is required for social relationships. Thus, they underline using real environment in education for making students more successful. It is a well-known reality. We can enhance education with visuals in mother language lessons too. If we use videos, pictures or photographs with text embedded, students can feel themselves in real life. They can imagine text’s situations more authentically. As literature suggests somewhat similar findings and assertions. This study implies and underlines the importance of visuals in educational and training environment of mother tongue.

8 Results and Recommendations 1. Using visuals for introducing Mevlana to the students became more interesting and appealing for the students in this study. 2. Students read Gorki’s “My Universities” and they used visuals and they could portray their feelings more effectively.

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3. The students who took different photos of their interests and they could evaluate the photos of their class mates in an interactive way by giving feedback. Researcher suggests that visuals and pictures can be used by making relation with visuals and texts in class environment for mother language education and training for better learning outcome. As such, it is noted that subjects’ feedback for the study were very positive. Hence, this method can improve their attention and interests by including every one into active learning. All in all; with this research, it has been found that when teachers use visual with literature texts in their lessons, students benefit from that method by way of imagination, inclusion themselves and connection of different perceptions in one pot. Thus, they may cook the food in the same pot for having great flavour.

References A˘gırba¸slı, A.: A Selected Beautiful Speech from Hz. Mevlana at 800 Years Birth Anniversary. Damla Ofset, Konya (2008) Avcı, Y.: Theory of language–thought analysis in teaching turkish as a foreign language. Manas Sosyal Ara¸stırmalar Dergisi 1(3), 1–15 (2012) Barrett, T.: Criticizing the Photo. Hayalperest Yayınevi, Istanbul (2012) Barthes, R.: Camera Lucida/Ideas on Photo. Altıkırkbe¸s Yayın, ˙Istanbul (2014) Çelik, G., Çekiç, O.: Pre-service Turkish language arts teachers’ views on their visual literacy skills. E˘gitimde Kuram ve Uygulama 10(4), 840–862 (2014) Çelik, G.: A mix method study for developing reading skills using visual literacy in Turkish language teaching class. Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi, Institute of Education, Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, Çanakkale (2017) Contini, R.M., Maturo A.: Multi-ethnic society and cross-cultural perspectives in the school, Proced. Soc. Behav. Sci. 5, 1537–1545 (2010) Creswell, J.W.: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Method Approaches on Research Designs. E˘giten Kitap, Ankara (2013) Debes, J.: What is visual literacy? [online 21.12.2017]. Available online at: https:// visualliteracytoday.org/what-is-visual-literacy/ (2017) Demirel, Ö.: Turkish Teaching for Turkish and Elementary Teachers. Pegem A Yayınları, Ankara (2002) Eren, M.: Understanding photo, [online 11.12.2018]. Available online at: http://meren.org/blog/ fotografi-anlamak/ (2006) Frey, N., Fisher, D.: Graphic novels: composing with sequential art in high school English and history. N. Engl. Read. Assoc. J. 45(2), 9–15 (2010) Gerrard, E.E.: Picturebooks as Visual Literacy: The Influence of Illustrations on Second Graders’ Comprehension of Narrative Text (Master of arts). University of Maryland, USA (2008) Golubieski, M.R.: Teaching for Visual Literacy: Critically Deconstructing the Visual within a Democratic Education (Doctor of philosophy). Miami University, Oxford, Ohio (2003) Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Operational program “Education for competitive advantage”, preparation of study materials for teaching in English. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 15(2011), 3800–3804 (2011) Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: The effect of language preparation on communication skills and growth of students’ self-confidence. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 114, 644–648 (2014). https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.sbspro.2013.12.761

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Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Maturo, A.: Fuzzy sets and algebraic hyperoperations to model interpersonal relations. Stud. Syst., Decis. Control 66, 211–223 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-31940585-8_19 Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Maturo, A.: Algebraic hyperstructures and social relations. Ital. J. Pure Appl. Math. 39, 701–709 (2018a) Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Maturo, A.: On some applications of fuzzy sets for the management of teaching and relationships in schools. Stud. Syst. Decis. Control 179, 343–353 (2018b). https:// doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00084-4_19 Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Maturo, A.: Decision-making process using hyperstructures and fuzzy structures in social sciences. In: Collan, M., Kacprzyk, J. (eds.) Soft Computing Applications for Group Decision-making and Consensus Modeling. Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing, vol. 357 (2018b). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60207-3_7 International Visual Literacy Association: “IVLA Brief History,” [online 22.07.2011]. Available online at: http://ivla.org/new/ivla-history/ (2011) Kılıç, E.: The impact of Eastern and Islamic arts on evidence of contemporary art of painting. J. Atatürk Univ. Inst. Fine Arts 3, 49–70 (1996) Lee, M.M.: Working toward third space: visual literacy acquisition in art studio classrooms (Doctor of education). Faculty of the USC Rossier School of Education University of Southern California, United States (2010) Newfield, D.: From visual literacy to critical visual literacy: an analysis of educational materials. Eng. Teach. Pract. Crit. 10(1), 81–94 (2011) Prensky, M.: Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, vol. 9, issue 5. MCB University Press, 1–6 Oct (2001) Robertson, M.S.M.: Teaching visual literacy in the secondary English/language arts classroom: an exploration of teachers’ attitudes, understanding and application, [online 02.10.2016]. Available online at: http://krex.kstate.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2097/269/MarthaRobertson?sequence= 1 (2007) Shurtleff, S.J.: Visual literacy as a method of understanding texts in the language arts classroom: storyboarding and video production. Unpublished Master’s Dissertation. Kent State University College and Graduate School of Education, Health and Human Services (2006) Sieber, E.: Teaching with objects and photographs supporting and enhancing your curriculum. Trustees of Indiana University Mathers Museum of Indiana University, Indiana (2012) Sims E., et al.: Visual literacy: what is it and do we need it to use learning technologies effectively? In: Document from at 2002 ASCILITE Conference (2002) Wilks, R.: My universities introduction [online 25.12.2017]. Available online at: https://www. goodreads.com/book/show/163597.My_Universities (2017)

Formalization of Decision Problems of the Head Teacher Antonio Maturo and Renata Santarossa

Abstract Head Teacher (HT), in the bill “The Good School”, is placed within a continuous and complex process of modernization of Education and therefore is having to make choices, while considering that an innovation of the rule is not always goes hand in hand with a transformation on the cultural level. The HT must respond to the purpose of the school system: “to raise the levels of learning of students through schooling”, recognized as an objective that accompanies the economic and social development of our country. The work will be focused on the training success, as a result of the choices made by a HT in the current Italian school system and will be completed with the use of mathematical tools for the analysis of the data obtained in order to identify which actions to implement to raise the levels of learning of students through schooling. The mathematical tool used in this work is the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) of Saaty. Keywords Governance · Processes · Social learning · Teaching-learning · Skills · Communication · Training success · Formative assessment

1 Introduction Against the backdrop of the “The Good School” bill, a new phase opens up in the life of the Italian school which sees the role of the Head Teacher (HT) in the governance of the school strengthened.

A. Maturo (B) Dipartimento di Architettura, Università G. d’Annunzio di Chieti-Pescara, Viale Pindaro, 42, 65127 Pescara, Italy e-mail: [email protected] R. Santarossa Dipartimento di Architettura, Università Federico 2° di Napoli, via Forno Vecchio 36, Napoli, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_21

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The Head Teacher (HT), is placed in a continuous and complex process of modernization of the public education and therefore has to make choices that do not always go hand in hand with a transformation on the cultural and social level. Within this working perspective, the HT, through the choice of an appropriate organization and criteria of action and allocation of human resources, must respond to the purpose of the school system: “to raise the levels of learning of students through schooling”, recognized as an objective that accompanies the economic and social development of our country. Organizational thinking and methods of analysis with respect to a goal, preserve in itself all the problems and criticalities of the choices, as well as the acquired and/or ascertained results that follow (evaluation report of the school, evaluation of the HT, and evaluation of teachers). The work will focus on training success, as a result of the choices made by a manager in the current school system. Over the last few years, governments around the world have been working more and more deeply on this point: national, regional, local standards have been defined, targets have been set and external verification programs of skills acquired by the students have been put in place: the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) in the USA, the TIMSS (Third International Mathematics and Science Study) that operates at the world level, INVALSI (National Institute for the Evaluation of the Educational System of Education and Training) in Italy. The outcomes of these initiatives are useful for identifying and planning actions that encourage the improvement of school management. More generally, teachers, managers, parents, politicians and researchers use reports of such initiatives to assess student progress across the country and develop ways to improve education. From all these efforts, at present, no effective guidelines have yet been identified that ensure the harmonious development of students’ capacities and potentials in line with the training needs and with the new configuration of modern society. Learning develops based on what students and teachers do in the classroom. Teachers must manage difficult and complex situations to channel the personal, emotional and social needs of young people and have to direct them both to immediate learning and to acquiring the skills necessary to learn better in the future. Further details on the social aspects related to learning and teaching are in the papers (Moreno 1951, 1953; Delli Rocili and Maturo 2013, 2015, 2017; Hošková-Mayerová 2016; HoškováMayerová and Maturo 2016, 2017; Svatoˇnová and Hošková-Mayerová 2017; Rosická and Hošková-Mayerová, 2014). The TIMSS survey highlights what is lacking to raise students’ learning levels: “A focus on the standards and accountability that ignores the teaching and learning in classrooms will not provide the direction that teachers need in their quest to improve”. Speaking in terms of systems theory, the current policy followed in the US and many other countries, seems to treat the classroom as a black box model, a system that, similarly to a black box, in relation to a specific solicitation in input (input), reacts at output (output), but whose internal operation is not visible or is unknown. The data in “entry” can be students, teachers, resources, management rules, parents’

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expectations, standards, tests with high goals, etc. And then it is assumed that they result in “outputs”, students with broader knowledge and better skills, more brilliant results in the exams, teachers reasonably satisfied. Some tools for evaluating the results and skills acquired are applied in (Ceccatelli et al. 2013a, b; Fortuna and Maturo 2018; Hošková-Mayerová 2014; Maturo et al. 2018). But what happens in the box? How can you read the processes that modify the outputs in relation to new inputs? Since teachers are the only ones who manage the class group, it is very simplistically thought to attribute to teachers the hardest part of the task of improving students’ learning levels. The research literature offers a large number of books and also relevant articles, published on this topic: journals, research reports, articles and book chapters. In particular, the material from 250 of these sources was evaluated, which is the basis of a long report published in a special issue of the journal “Assessment in Education” in March 1998 together with the comments of eminent experts in the field of education in Australia, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Lesotho and USA. The summary is in the following points: • There are evidence reasons to believe that by improving the formative assessment standards are raised. • There is reason to think that it is possible to improve. • To improve the formative assessment, follow the instructions. In this report the processes inside the black box will be taken into consideration. The theme of teaching will be dealt with, in particular one of its fundamental aspects, that of formative assessment, demonstrating that this constitutes the central nucleus of an effective teaching.

2 Didactic Communication Communication, beyond institutional reforms, continues to be a crucial issue in the teacher-student educational relationship and therefore in teaching-learning. Some aspects of this problem are considered in the books (Maturo et al. 2017a, b; Ventre et al. 2013) and in the papers (Hošková-Mayerová 2011, 2014; Hošková-Mayerová and Rosická 2014, 2015). The teacher realizes his training project as part of the possible strategies of teaching methods, there are many possible hypotheses as well as the variables that intervene to define them. The choice will depend not only on the philosophy of the teacher and the peculiarities of the students, but also on the needs and the training objectives. A first distinctive element regards the type of learning being trained. Communicating does not only mean producing a language, transmitting information, knowledge and skills, it is about acquiring attitudes to establish relationships, play with the needs and emotions of students and students. They are the knowledge,

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skills and attitudes that allow the student to build skills, a distinctive element of learning training. It is interesting to underline that, in the context of reference, whatever the didactic method that the teacher intends to use, it cannot be separated from the communication that is the intentional exchange of messages aimed at learning.

2.1 Communicative Styles Didactical communication is based on the use of linguistic models closely related to communication styles that also refer to specific personality characteristics and influence the teacher’s behavior: how frequently he speaks, how the word turns are established, how it is introduced, how explains, etc. By defining the communicative styles as a set of verbal behaviors, identifiable and distinguishable from others, as it is characterized by recurring modal situations and which predominate in them, we can briefly refer to three main communication models: • expositive-referential; • interrogative-problematic; • imperative-active. In this section we want to concentrate our attention on the communicative style of the teacher and on the modalities of expression that orientate towards an “effective” communication in the relationship with the students. The focus of interest is therefore the teacher and his/her communicative skills in classroom teaching. The expositive-referential style corresponds to the typical modalities of the lecture and should be used mainly for information purposes: providing news, communicating precise data, telling events, exposing facts and situations within a given domain as certain. This style serves to transmit knowledge. The interrogative-problematic style serves the teacher to convince students to assume a certain behavior or attitude or to gain consensus towards a defined thesis. The modality that supports this style tends to favor the interrogative phrases, sometimes introduced by rhetorical formulas such as “it is perhaps not true that …”, “do not you also think that …” and the use of the first person plural of the verb, “us”, as an invitation to participation, reflection and involvement in the discussion. Often the arguments presented are supported by impersonal forms that emphasize the veracity and objectivity of what is stated, for example “statistically it is shown that …”, “scholars believe that …”, etc. The imperative-active style is a typical mode of concrete action, factual, demonstrative, where the teacher tends to directly address the student, proposing certain patterns of behavior, assigning tasks, approving and disapproving. This style is characterized by the volitional phrases of the imperative, the infinitive propositions gov-

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erned by the auxiliary “duty”, the use of the verb to the second person and the deictics as “you” “yours” in their various forms “your habits …”, “a person like you …”. The research study that analyzes the communicative style of the teacher in relation to the effectiveness of communication/relationship in the classroom and is being carried out at the Department of Psychology of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan edited by Giampietro M. and Daffi G. is not expressed on the validity of one style with respect to the other, from a specific point of view, it is believed that it is possible to order them for effectiveness, depending on the perception that the actors involved (i.e. the students) play. However, a communicative action of a teacher who makes use of the imperativeactive style or of a directive communication does not produce efficacy because, by affirming the teacher’s hierarchical power over the student, he inhibits the communication that becomes unidirectional. The communicative models inevitably contributed to the construction of the communicative style. Several researchers have dealt with the communicative style and will illustrate the most significant results of their research. From a profound reflection, it will be reasonable to suppose that there is a common denominator: the communicative style of people differs according to the predominance of specific relational needs. Norton (1983) extended and deepened the construct of the individual communicative style, in the educational field, with reference to the communicative style of the teacher, defining the communicative style of the teacher as “the result of the combination of individual style with the style of communication of certain disciplinary contents in a certain class, in a certain environment, with a group of students”. Leary (1957) has faced the concept of communicative style in a broader theoretical framework, that of the system of interpersonal relationships, in which style is understood primarily as a style of interaction. His model refers to two fundamental styles: dominance/submission and hate/love that generate different characteristics. Combinations between styles give rise to 8 variables related to interpersonal behavior. Schutz’s research (1958) led him to define a Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation (FIRO) system, which identified three main orientations that are reflected in the way of communicating.

Way to communicate

Needs

Tendency to inclusion

To be assisted Attract the attention of others Be at the center of interest Collaborate

Tendency to control

Power

Tendency to affectivity

Be close to others

Manipulate decision-making processes Sharing emotions and emotions

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In this perspective, the communicative style provides relational information on the intensity of particular contents, giving shape to the message. In other words, it becomes a significant and reliable element for its correct interpretation.

3 The AHP Decision-Making Process to Weigh the Evaluation Criteria for a “Good School” In the old-school approach, conflicts and relationality among students were managed with an authoritarian system by the teacher who distributed prizes and even corporal punishment, suspension and so on. In recent times, it is less and less possible to have authoritarian attitudes, and relationships among students must be handled with the authority deriving from a preparation on pedagogical and psychological aspects, and even in the understanding and modeling of the problems that arise. To introduce and evaluate criteria that define “good school” we use hierarchical analytical procedure (AHP) of (Saaty 1980, 2008). Applications of the AHP procedure are in (Maturo and Ventre 2009a, b; Maturo and Ventre 2017; Maturo and Zappacosta 2017). This procedure is based on the representation of a decision problem with a directed graph G = (V, A) satisfying the following 5 properties: – the vertices are distributed in a fixed number n > 2 of levels, numbered from 1 to n; – there is only one vertex of level 1, called root; – for every vertex v different from the root there is at least one path having the root as the initial vertex and v as the final vertex; – every vertex u of level i < n is an initial vertex of at least one arc and there are no arcs with an initial vertex of level n; – if an arc has the initial vertex of level i then it has the final vertex of level i + 1. In this paper we assume n = 4. The level 1 vertex is called the general objective, indicated with GO. Level 2 vertices are called specific objectives, or simply objectives. Level 3 vertices are called criteria and finally level 4 vertices are the pure alternatives or strategies of the decision process. A decision maker D (or a commission) assigns a score to each arc following the AHP procedure proposed in (Saaty, 1980, 2008) and applied in various papers, for example in (Maturo and Ventre, 2009a, b). The scores are non-negative real numbers and such that the sum of the scores of the arcs coming out of the same vertex u is equal to 1. The score assigned to an arc (u, v) indicates the extent to which the final vertex v (objective, criterion or alternative) meets the initial vertex u (general objective, objective, criterion). The score of a path is the product of the scores of the arcs that form the path. The scoring procedure is based on pairwise comparison. Let x1, x2, …, xp be the final vertices of the arcs coming out of an initial vertex u. If the decision maker considers xr preferable or indifferent to xs, then he must estimate the importance of xr with respect to xs using one of the following qualitative judgments: indifference, weak

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preference, preference, strong preference, absolute preference. Qualitative judgments are expressed as numerical values according to the following Saaty scale: indifference = 1, weak preference = 3, preference = 5, strong preference = 7, absolute preference = 9. If we assign to the object xr one of the previous numbers when it is compared to the object xs, then xs assumes the reciprocal value when it is compared to xr. Then we obtain a pairwise comparison matrix A = (ars ) with p rows and p columns, called matrix associated to the p-tuple (x1, x2, …, xp), in which ars is the number assigned to xr when it is compared with xs. Then the main eigenvalue λ1 of the matrix A is calculated and, among the eigenvectors associated to λ1, the one is chosen (called normalized eigenvector, which is proved to be unique) with all the components w1, w2, …, wp not negative and with sum equal to 1. For each i, the number wi is the score assigned to the arc (u, xi) from the AHP procedure. Let us consider the following general objective GO = “Ensuring school success to all students”. This general objective can be explained by the following specific objectives: 1. Developing basic skills in reading, writing and mathematics; 2. Acquisition and enhancement of cognitive and metacognitive skills and self-study method; 3. Activation of processes of inclusion and customization educational plans for students with special educational needs; 4. Decrease in the rate of absenteeism of students, including delays and early exits. The achievement of the objective O1 is checked by means of the following criteria: C1. C2. C3. C4. C5. C6. C7.

Tests both structured and unstructured. Common input level testing, on-going and outgoing. Questionnaire for students. Number of participants in extracurricular activities for the recovery. Written and oral tests. Number of participants in extracurricular activities for the expansion. Number of participants in INVALSI preparation.

The achievement of the objective O2 is checked by means of the following criteria: C8. C9. C10. C11.

Written and oral tests. Verification tests both structured and unstructured. Iconic verification tests. Numerical objective assessment of teachers.

The achievement of the objective O3 is checked by means of the following criteria: C12. Collection of personalized plans and plans for inclusion with monitoring by means of structured tests. C13. Detection of attending the activities planned ad hoc by the school. C14. Written and oral tests.

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C15. Questionnaire for families. The achievement of the objective O4 is checked by means of the following criteria: C16. C17. C18. C19.

Daily survey of absentees. Daily survey of laggards. Daily checks of requests for early exits. Monitoring of household responses to written reminders of the H.T.

A committee of experts calculated the matrix MOG of pairwise comparison of the specific objectives with respect to the overall objective GO. Using the symbolism of the Mathematica software such matrix is indicated as a set of lines. We obtained: MOG = {{1, 1/5, 1/5, 1/3}, {5, 1, 7, 3}, {5, 1/7, 1, 3}, {3, 1/3, 1/3, 1}}. From this matrix, performing the elaborations suggested by Saaty (1980, 2008), it was obtained the vector of scores of objectives: WO = {0.0578, 0.6049, 0.2118, 0.1255}. Subsequently, the commission of experts obtained the following matrix of the pairwise comparison of the criteria C1–C7 with respect to the O1: KO1 = {{1, 1/3, 5, 2, 5, 1/3, 1/7}, {3, 1, 3, 1/7, 3, 1/3, 4}, {1/5, 1/3, 1, 1/7, 2, 1/3, 9}, {1/2, 7, 7, 1, 1/3, 1, 1/3}, {1/5, 1/3, 1/2, 3, 1, 7, 1/3}, {3, 3, 3, 1, 1/7, 1, 3}, {7, 1/4, 1/9, 3, 3, 1/3, 1}},

from which we obtain the following vector K1 of the criteria C1–C7 weights with respect to the objective O1: K1 = {0.1351, 0.1419, 0.1329, 0.1700, 0.1296, 0.1423, 0.1483}. Since the first 7 criteria concern only the objective O1, the vector W1 of the C1–C7 criteria weights with respect to the objective GO is obtained by multiplying the vector K1 by the weight WO [1] = 0.0578 of O1 with respect to GO. We get then: W1 = WO [1]K1 = {0.0089, 0.0094, 0.0088, 0.0112, 0.0086, 0.0094, 0.0098}. The matrix of the pairwise comparison of the criteria C8–C11 with respect to the O2 is: KO2 = {{1, 5, 1, 13}, {15, 1, 5, 3}, {1, 15, 1, 5}, {3, 13, 15, 1}}. From KO2 we obtain, with the AHP procedure, the vector K2 of the criteria C8–C11 weights with respect to the objective O2:

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K2 = {0.3034, 0.2949, 0.2199, 0.1819}. The criteria C8–C11 concern only the objective O2, then the vector W2 of the C8–C11 criteria weights with respect to the objective GO is obtained by multiplying the vector K2 by the weight WO [2] = 0.6049 of O2 with respect to GO. We have: W2 = WO [2]K2 = {0.2098, 0.2040, 0.15210, 0.1258} The matrix of the pairwise comparison of the criteria C12–C15 with respect to the objective O3 is: KO3 = {{1, 9, 7, 4}, {1/9, 1, 3, 1/5}, {1/7, 1/3, 1, 1/3}, {1/4, 5, 3, 1}}. Following the AHP procedure, we obtain the vector K3 of the criteria C12–C15 weights with respect to the objective O3: K3 = {0.6271, 0.0866, 0.0581, 0.2282}. The criteria C12-C15 concern only the objective O3 and the vector W3 of the C12–C15 criteria weights with respect to the objective GO is obtained by multiplying the vector K3 by the weight WO [3] = 0.2118 of O3 with respect to GO. Then: W3 = W O [3]K3 = {0.1519, 0.0210, 0.0141, 0.0553}. The matrix of the pairwise comparison of the criteria C16–C19 with respect to the objective O4 is: KO4 = {{1, 5, 3, 17}, {15, 1, 3, 13}, {13, 12, 1, 13}, {7, 3, 3, 1}}. Then the vector K4 of the criteria C12–C15 weights with respect to the objective O4 is: K4 = {0.2336, 0.1207, 0.0819, 0.5637}. The criteria C13–C19 concern only the objective O4. So the vector W4 of the C16–C19 criteria weights with respect to the objective GO is obtained by multiplying the vector K4 by the weight WO [4] = 0.1255 of O4 with respect to GO. We obtain: W4 = WO [4]K4 = {0.0335, 0.0173, 0.0118, 0.0809}. Finally, the vector W of the 19 criteria weights with respect to the general objective GO is obtained by concatenating, in order, the four vectors W1, W2, W3, W4, with the Mathematica instruction:

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W = Join[W1, W2, W3, W4] Then we have: W = {0.0089, 0.0094, 0.0088, 0.0112, 0.0086, 0.0094, 0.0098, 0.2098, 0.2040, 0.15210, 0.1258, 0.1519, 0.0210, 0.0141, 0.0553, 0.0335, 0.0173, 0.0118, 0.0809}.

The analysis carried out showed that, according to the hierarchical analytical procedure followed, the most important criteria are: C8 = Written and oral tests; C9 = Verification tests both structured and unstructured. Relevant criteria are also: C10 = Iconic verification tests; C11 = Numerical objective assessment of teachers; C12 = Collection of personalized plans and plans for inclusion with monitoring by means of structured tests. The criteria C1, C2, C3, C5, C6, C7 are less important, but in any case they cannot be neglected in defining the importance of possible alternatives either because the score of some alternative to these criteria can be very high and because in the problems of choice it can happen to have as a constraint the fact that each criterion must be satisfied above a certain threshold.

4 Definition of the Alternatives and Assessment of Their Scores The work carried out in Sect. 3 leads to the construction of the reference model to which all decision makers must comply. The next phase, normally carried out by different decision-makers other than those who built the reference model, is to provide a framework of possible action alternatives and to evaluate the scores of these alternatives with respect to each of the 19 criteria. Subsequently, by combining the scores of the alternatives with the criteria weights, we obtain, for each alternative Aj, a final score s(Aj) that represents the extent to which Aj satisfies the general GO objective. Preferable alternatives are those that reach the highest scores. However, there may be various reasons for choosing, between two alternatives with slightly different scores, the one with the lowest score such as: the need to reach threshold values for the various criteria, union pressures, prevailing opinions between those who must implement the alternative, political and religious motivations, environmental context etc. For each criterion Ck and alternative Aj, the decision-maker D must assign (or calculate) a score skj that measures the extent to which, in the opinion of D, Aj satisfies the criterion Ck. If we consider n alternatives we obtain a score matrix S = (skj ) with 19 rows (one for each criterion) and n columns (one for each alternative) that represents the framework of the attribution of the various scores. The elaboration of this matrix with appropriately defined logical procedures leads to the final scores of the alternatives.

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Usually, if W is the row vector of the criteria weights, we assume that the row vector A of the scores of the alternatives is given by the matrix product A = W S. But this presupposes some a priori assumptions, for example accepting that the scores of each alternative are interpretable, at least with acceptable approximation, as utilities. In our work we have identified the following sustainable alternatives: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Effective communication; Conditioning of socio-cultural factors; Mechanical learning; Predisposition to change; Use of technologies; Update and training; Cognitive motivation; Conflict resolution; Hearing/interviews.

For each criterion, a committee of experts assessed the degree to which each alternative meets the criterion, assigning the score from 0 to 10, as is usually done in the scholastic evaluation. The following score matrix was thus obtained Table 1. If we denote with S the score matrix, using the Mathematica software language we have: S = {{6, 8, 4, 7, 6, 10, 9, 2, 1}, {8, 6, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 2, 7}, {7, 6, 6, 4, 5, 7, 7, 1, 10}, {9, 5, 6, 4, 7, 6, 10, 7, 3}, {5, 4, 7, 8, 6, 7, 9, 2, 6}, {6, 6, 6, 9, 5, 8, 10, 3, 1}, {4, 6, 3, 2, 1, 3, 8, 2, 3}, {2, 6, 6, 7, 4, 5, 8, 3, 1}, {2, 7, 7, 7, 4, 6, 7, 3, 1}, {8, 8, 7, 8, 9, 7, 7, 5, 6}, {9, 6, 6, 7, 10, 9, 7, 6, 2}, {5, 6, 4, 5, 7, 9, 8, 1, 1}, {1, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 1, 2, 1}, {7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 5, 7, 8, 1}, {4, 4, 3, 7, 1, 1, 5, 4, 9}, {3, 6, 5, 6, 8, 5, 4, 7, 1}, {3, 7, 5, 6, 8, 5, 6, 7, 1}, {4, 8, 6, 6, 3, 3, 1, 1, 1}, {2, 9, 7, 8, 1, 2, 5, 9, 10}}.

If the elements of S are interpretable, at least with acceptable approximation, as utilities, then the matrix product A = W S provides the scores (utility) of the alternatives with respect to the general objective GO. We have: A = W S = {5.0680, 7.5112, 6.7301, 7.7457, 6.4766, 7.0094, 7.8959, 4.5689, 3.4210}.

According to the analyzes carried out, the best alternatives seem to be, in order, A7, A4, A2, while the last places are placed, in order A1, A8, A9. But the practical meaning of the scores obtained can have various interpretations. With a view to mixed strategies the scores obtained can be considered proportional to the time when it is appropriate to follow the various alternatives.

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Table 1 Evaluation matrix

M

A1

A2

A3

A4

A5

A6

A7

C1

6

8

4

C2

8

6

5

C3

7

6

C4

9

5

C5

5

C6 C7

A8

A9

7

6

10

9

2

1

6

6

7

8

2

7

6

4

5

7

7

1

10

6

4

7

6

10

7

3

4

7

8

6

7

9

2

6

6

6

6

9

5

8

10

3

1

4

6

3

2

1

3

8

2

3

C8

2

6

6

7

4

5

8

3

1

C9

2

7

7

7

4

6

7

3

1

C10

8

8

7

8

9

7

7

5

6

C11

9

6

6

7

10

9

7

6

2

C12

5

6

4

5

7

9

8

1

1

C13

1

5

6

6

6

7

1

2

1

C14

7

6

6

6

6

5

7

8

1

C15

4

4

3

7

1

1

5

4

9

C16

3

6

5

6

8

5

4

7

1

C17

3

7

5

6

8

5

6

7

1

C18

4

8

6

6

3

3

1

1

1

C19

2

9

7

8

1

2

5

9

10

With this interpretation the percentages of time in which it is convenient to follow the various alternatives are given by the following vector. T = {8.98, 13.31, 11.93, 13.73, 11.48, 12.42, 13.99, 8.10, 6.06}.

5 Conclusions and Research Perspectives The analysis carried out can be deepened from various points of view. A first step consists in evaluating with indexes the coherence of each pairwise comparison matrix and asking the decision makers to review their opinions if it appears that these indices appear too high. The consistency index proposed by Saaty is given by the formula: CI = (λ − n)/(n − 1) where n is the order of the pairwise comparison matrix M and λ is the maximum eigenvalue. Saaty proposes to accept the consistence of the matrix M if CI < 0.1

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and to ask decision makers to review their own evaluations if CI ≥ 0.1. But in some contexts, such as the scholastic, various experiences have shown that, for n > 3, this limit may be too low and that forcing decision-makers to change their judgments can be counterproductive as it can lead to distorted evaluations, not in line with their opinions. Therefore, sometimes it is advisable to accept the matrix of the pairwise comparison even if CI < 0.2, or even CI < 0.3 (Delli Rocili and Maturo 2017; Maturo and Zappacosta 2017). The method of evaluating the scores of the alternatives is in this work, of a “mixed” type. The criteria weights are obtained with the pairwise comparison, while the scores of the alternatives are assigned with a rating from 0 to 10. The diversity of the two procedures should not be surprising, since setting the criteria weights means setting the structure of the school system, and decision-makers can be taken at level of parliament or ministry of the instruction, while the scores of the alternatives are attributed by the individual teachers or groups of teachers of a school, which, as is well known, are used to express their judgments in a scale from 0 to 10. Furthermore, the elaboration of a matrix of pairwise comparison of alternatives for each of several criteria (in our case, 19) can be too heavy and laborious for teachers and lead to slowing down or refusing evaluation operations. In a theoretical in-depth phase, however, it may be interesting to compare the results of our mixed method with those obtained using the pairwise comparison at each stage. After experimenting in the classroom the alternatives that are found to be preferable, it may happen that the results of the experimentation bring new ideas, such as a rethinking of particular objectives, criteria and sustainable alternatives. The decisionmaking process described in the previous sections is then repeated with the new data, comparing the results obtained in this second phase with the previous ones. Further search addresses can take shape taking into account the context or even using additional mathematical tools such as fuzzy logic and arithmetic (e.g. see Maturo and Maturo 2013, 2014, 2017; Maturo and Hošková-Mayerová 2017; Maturo 2016; Maturo and Fortuna 2016) or functional analysis of variance (e.g. see Di Battista et al. 2014, 2016; Maturo et al. 2017a, b). Fuzzy logic can be appropriate in the context in which the HT moves, as he/she rarely can use bivalent judgments (black/white, true/false, yes/no …). Today, most of the reasoning, in everyday life, takes place in conditions of uncertainty, and the principles of fuzzy logic seem to be suitable to face and solve the problems that arise because they are based on a training predisposed to polyvalence, observation, consideration of school problems in all their nuances and their indeterminacy.

References Ceccatelli C., Di Battista T., Fortuna F., Maturo F.: L’item response theory come strumento di valutazione delle eccellenze nella scuola. Sci. Philos. 1(1), 143–156 (2013a)

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Ceccatelli, C., Di Battista, T., Fortuna, F., Maturo, F.: Best practices to improve the learning of statistics: the case of the National Olympics of Statistic in Italy. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 93, 2194–2199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013 (2013b) Delli, R.L., Maturo, A.: Teaching mathematics to children: social aspects, psychological problems and decision-making models. In: Soitu, D., Gavriluta, C., Maturo, A. (eds.) Interdisciplinary approaches in social sciences. Editura Universitatii A.I. Cuza, Iasi, Romania (2013) Delli, R.L., Maturo, A.: Interdisciplinarity, logic of uncertainty and fuzzy logic in primary school. Sci. Philos. 3(2), 11–26 (2015) Delli Rocili, L., Maturo, A.: Social problems and decision making for teaching approaches and relationship management in an elementary school. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54819-7_ 7 (2017) Di Battista, T., Fortuna, F., Maturo, F.: Parametric functional analysis of variance for fish biodiversity assessment. J. Environ. Inf. https://doi.org/10.3808/jei.201600348 (2016) Di Battista, T., Fortuna, F., Maturo, F.: Parametric functional analysis of variance for fish biodiversity. Paper presented at the international conference on marine and freshwater environments, iMFE 2014. Retrieved from www.scopus.com (2014) Fortuna, F., Maturo, F.: K-means clustering of item characteristic curves and item information curves via functional principal component analysis. Qual. Quant. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-0180724-7 (2018) Hošková-Mayerová, Š.: Operational programm “Education for competitive advantage”, preparation of study materials for teaching in English. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 15, 3800–3804 (2011) Hošková-Mayerová, Š.: The effect of language preparation on communication skills and growth of students’ self-confidence. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 114, 644–648 (2014). ISSN 1877-0428 Hošková-Mayerová, Š.: Education and training in crisis management. In: ICEEPSY 2016—7th international conference on education and educational conference. Future Academy, pp. 849–856 (2016). ISSN 2357-1330 Hoskova-Mayerova, Š., Maturo, A.: Fuzzy sets and algebraic hyperoperations to model interpersonal relations. In: Antonio, M. et al. (eds.) Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, Recent Trends in Social Systems: Quantitative Theories and Quantitative Models, vol. 66 (2017). ISBN 978-3319-40583-4 Hošková-Mayerová, Š., Rosická, Z.: Efficient methods at combined study programs. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 131, 135–139 (2014). ISSN 1877-0428 Hošková-Mayerová, Š., Rosická, Z.: E-learning pros and cons: active learning culture? Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 191, 958–962 (2015). ISSN 1877-0428 Hoskova-Mayerova, Š., Maturo, A.: An analysis of social relations and social group behaviors with fuzzy sets and hyperstructures. Int. J. Algebraic Hyperstruct. Appl. 2(1), 91–99 (2016). ISSN 2383-2851 Leary, T.: Interpersonal Diagnosis of Personality, Ronald Press Company, New York (1957); Liebermann, M., Yalom, I., Miles, M.: Encounter Grups: First Facts, Basic Books, New (1973) Maturo, F.: Dealing with randomness and vagueness in business and management sciences: the fuzzy-probabilistic approach as a tool for the study of statistical relationships between imprecise variables. Ratio Math. 30(1), 45–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.23755/rm.v30i1.8 (2016) Maturo, F., Fortuna, F.: Bell-shaped fuzzy numbers associated with the normal curve. Top. Methodol. Appl. Stat. Infer. 131–144. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44093-4_13 (2016) Maturo, A., Maturo, F.: Research in social sciences: fuzzy regression and causal complexity. Stud. Fuzziness Soft Comput. 237–249. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35635-3_18 (2013) Maturo, F., Hošková-Mayerová, Š.: Fuzzy regression models and alternative operations for economic and social sciences. Stud. Syst. Decis. Control, 235–247. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3319-40585-8_21 (2017) Maturo, A., Maturo, F.: Finite Geometric Spaces, Steiner Systems and Cooperative Games. Analele Universitatii “Ovidius” Constanta - Seria Matematica 22(1). https://doi.org/10.2478/auom-20140015 (2014)

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Maturo, A., Maturo, F.: Fuzzy events, fuzzy probability and applications in economic and social sciences. Stud. Syst. Decis. Control 223–233. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40585-8_20 (2017) Maturo, A., Ventre, A.G.S.: An application of the analytic hierarchy process to enhancing consensus in multiagent decision making. In: Proceeding of the International Symposium on the Analytic Hierarchy Process for Multicriteria Decision Making, July 29–August 1, 2009, paper 48, 1–12. University of Pittsburg, Pittsburgh (2009a) Maturo, A., Ventre, A.G.S.: Aggregation and consensus in multiobjective and multi person decision making. Int. J. Uncertainty, Fuzziness Knowl. Based Syst. 17(4), 491–499 (2009b) Maturo, F., Ventre, V.: Consensus in multiperson decision making using fuzzy coalitions. Stud. Fuzziness Soft Comput. 451–464. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60207-3_26 (2017) Maturo, A., Zappacosta, M.G.: Mathematical models for the comparison of teaching strategies in primary school. Sci. Philos. 5(2), 25—38 (2017) Maturo, F., Fortuna, F., Di Battista, T.: Testing equality of functions across multiple experimental conditions for different ability levels in the IRT context: the case of the IPRASE TLT 2016 Survey. Soc. Ind. Res. (2018) Maturo, A., Hošková-Mayerová, Š., Soitu, D., Kacprzyk, J. (eds.): Recent Trends in Social Systems: Quantitative Theories and Quantitative Models Edition: Studies in System, Decision and Control 66. Springer International Publishing AG 2016, Switzerland, 426 p (2017b). ISSN 2198–4182. ISBN 978-3-319-40583-4 Maturo, F., Migliori, S., Paolone, F.: Do Institutional or Foreign shareholders influence national board diversity? Assessing board diversity through functional data analysis. Stud. Syst. Decis. Control 199–217. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54819-7_14 (2017a) Moreno, J.L.: Sociometry. Experimental Methods and the Science of Society. Beacon Press, New York (1951) Moreno, J.L.: Who Shall Survive?. Beacon Press, New York (1953) Norton, R.: Communicator Style: Theory, Application, and Measures, p. 1983. Sage, Beverly Hills (1983) Rosická, Z., Hošková-Mayerová, Š.: Motivation to study and work with talented students. ProcediaSocial and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 114, pp. 234–238. Amsterdam, Netherlands, Elsevier Science BV (2014) Saaty, T.L.: The Analytic Hierarchy Process. McGraw-Hill, New York (1980) Saaty, T.L.: Relative measurement and its generalization in decision making, why pairwise comparisons are central in mathematics for the measurement of intangible factors, the analytic hierarchy/network process. Rev. R. Acad. Cien. Serie A. Mat. 102(2), 251–318 (2008) Svatoˇnová, H., Hošková-Mayerová, Š.: Social aspects of teaching: subjective preconditions and objective evaluation of interpretation of image data. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-548197_13 (2017) Ventre, A.G.S., Maturo, A., Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Kacprzyk, J. (eds.): Multicriteria and Multiagent Decision Making with Applications to Economic and Social Sciences Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg (2013). ISSN 1434-9922, ISBN 978-3-64235634-6

Part III

Recent Trends on Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Social-Economic Systems and Social Work

Pedagogical Helping Relationship in Family Problems Franco Blezza

Abstract The professional pedagogist exercises through a particular form of help relationship by the word, in which he implements the conceptual and operational tools specific to its social science. In this chapter, we outline the general features of this professional performance, and we pass in brief review such instruments the pedagogist may employ in his professional practice, from the ancient greek and latin origins, until recent centuries. Finally, we describe two cases on couple problems treated professionally. by way of example. Pedagogy as a profession is an excellent paradigm for social sciences, theories and procedures. The clinical method, which is a qualitative method, has a particularly fruitful application in the problems of couple and family. Keywords Pedagogist · Social professions · Pedagogical helping relationship · Clinical casuistry · Clinical method

1 Pedagogy, and the Professional Pedagogist Pedagogy is a field of study, research and engagement to education, and requires reflection and application. Education is a social act. It encompasses any form of inter-personal communication that contributes to the cultural evolution, human prerogative, and history. This field is establishing itself as a profession, named “pedagogist”. This professional exercise a specific form of helping relationship, only on request, in presence of problematic situations of educational, social, and relational nature. In this particular pedagogical relationship, it is also possible to implement the conceptual and

F. Blezza (B) DPPEQS Department of Philosofical, Pedagogical and Economic-quantitative Sciences, “G. D’Annunzio” University, Via Dei Vestini, 31, 66100 Chieti Scalo CH, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_22

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operational, methodological, procedural and lexical tools of social and professional pedagogy (Blezza 2010, 2015b; Crispiani, Telleri). This professional pedagogical helping relationship is a particular mode of dialogue, legitimate heir of the Greek-classical and particularly of the Socratic one. Aim of this chapter is to outline the general characteristics of this way to exercising a profession, who is ancient and emerging today, and to summarize the various forms of the complex tools that can be employed in this exercising from the original ancient Greek and Latin world until the recent reports. Finally, two examples of professionally treated cases are discussed. Conclusion will be sought with chosen bibliography from which details that, although are undoubtedly necessary and important, have not the chance to develop here, particularly the clinical casuistry of the Author. Pedagogy, in its professional and social declination, constitutes a methodological paradigm, as regards theories and procedures, for social sciences. The clinical method, which is a qualitative method, finds particularly fruitful application in the problems of couple, partnership, parenting and generally family.

2 Basic Features and Tools This professional exercise is carried out through the word: it may therefore bear some resemblance to the different forms of “word therapy”: among these therapies there is in the first place Psychoanalysis in its various historical developments, but also for example some form of Counselling. The fundamental differences are its non-therapeutic character, the exclusion of any digging into the unconscious, and the work on transferable inter-personal facts instead of Erlebnis (a subjective experience of life, non-translatable term and to be used in the original language; in italian language exists the term “il vissuto”). It is a helping relationship (Canevaro, Demetrio, Lapassade, Lumbelli, Rogers) about consciousness, which may have long been a conscience left unintended, unconfirmed, taken for granted, or not necessarily of any special attention. The role of the pedagogist does not involve finding solutions. It is rather related to helping the interlocutor to find his own way to solve the problems (Dewey, Popper, Polya, Bartley III). The method of professional pedagogist is the so-called clinical method (Massa, Rezzara, Crispiani; Blezza 2010), a situational case study. This implies approaching the context in which the interlocutor is located and employing a particular empathy (Rogers, Blezza 2011) to get intentionally and according to a project into the problematic situation of the interlocutor and re-elaborate it in order to make the situation more easily assumable and resoluble. We could sketch the stages of pedagogical helping interlocution as follows (Blezza 2010. 2011, 2015a; Crispiani):

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– identifying the problematic situations and helping the interlocutor to intentionally undergo a transition towards full problem posing by reacting positively and constructively to the situation; – exercising creativity and recalling the experience to advancing possible hypotheses in solving the posed problems. This exercise is always ruled, normed, and hence it allows the process of screening the best solution for the interlocutor himself; – respecting the rules of “internal” (inner) coherence (Peirce, James, Dewey, Popper), that is logical coherence, with the removal of the contradictions that emerge in the discussion on the various hypotheses introduced in the social and cultural context of the interlocutor; – respecting the rules of “external” coherence (Peirce, Dewey, Popper, Bartley III), that is empirical or factual coherence, with the experimental and empirical examination of the proposed hypotheses as far as possible generating a virtual criticism of the whole cultural context. This analysis aims to discard the hypotheses that are falsified by the experience that follows (the “future experience” of Pragmatists) and to maintain the ones that constitute a provisional force susceptible to subsequent falsifications; – full opening to the evolution of ideas and the evolution of the person, the benefit of the doubt, critical spirit, and always and still the ideas for man, not being pedagogically admissible the vice versa. Based on the aforementioned steps, so we could state the basic tools of today’s pedagogical helping and interlocution as follows: problem posing and solving, the ruled exercise of creativity, internal and external coherence, and all that is the professional exercise of pedagogical profession (Dewey, Popper). The next sections cover some more families of instruments, currently employed by pedagogist, (Crispiani and Giaconi; Blezza 2015a), always by way of example and not exhaustive, with some mention of how to use it pedagogically.

3 Some Salient Steps in the Pedagogical Helping Relation A major part of the pedagogical helping relationship by dialog or interlocution has directly to do with the “life project” which concerns every human being and the people surrounding him. This project is not a plan or a model, and therefore it is always susceptible to reviewing, rethinking, and continuous correcting. The life project often poses problems regarding internal consistency or external coherence we previously discussed, because it can be intrinsically contradictory, or unrealistic. Moreover, in social relationships there are often logical or empirical contradictions as far as a person’s project concerns the future of related people such as the partner, the children related to parent(s) or vice versa, the relatives, the work colleague, the converging social or cultural service providers, the social network, and so on. An example is particularly enlightening in its frequent occurrence.

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Let we consider the case of a couple where each partner assumes the other’s choices and renounces as “naturally” and, first of all, definitive, without a proper discussion. This happens much more often than it is considered without such a presupposition that it has been discussed adequately or at all, being regarded as obvious, banal, even “natural” precisely. Here we understand clearly how the pedagogist must use the word and the reasoning, the experience too, inviting each of the interlocutors to bring to the explicit level all that in one of the partners was left implicit and undisputed about the other, in a way to compare the respective life projects in full respect of the person each of them represents (Bekesiene and Hoskova-Mayerova, 2018).

4 Tools of Greek-Classical Origin The classical Greek culture and philosophy is also a source of tools, probably the first one, for today’s pedagogy and pedagogist. We can bear witness to its ´ wealth and importance, without claiming any completeness, starting with παντων ´ χρηματων μšτρoν ™στ`ιν ¥νθρωπoς, τîν μν Ôντων æς στιν, τîν δ oÙκ Ôντων æς oÙκ στιν of Protagora, and from oυδšν εστ´ιν, ει δ’εστ´ιν oυ νoητ´oν, ει δε ´ of Gorνoητ´oν, αλλ’oυ γνωστ´oν, ειδš και γνωστ´oν, αλλ’oυ δηλωτ´oν αλλoυς gia and active participation in their own reality or with the Aristolelian ϕuσει ´ μšν ´ εστιν’ανθρωπoς ζω´oν πoλιτικ´oν. The list continues with logic, from before Aristotle to the latest developments: with the γνθι σεαυτ´oν and the deep sense of human limitness and the resulting condemnation of the ‘uβρις, ´ superb and arrogant violation of this character, tools and warning of the latter’s evident momentum. But they are just some particularly emerging examples. Much of the Greek-class philosophy, including the described examples, can be summarized on the basis of the colossal scientific culture of that people: a knowing that it aroused our admiration, but that it was never intended for the application, even though it included electricity, magnetism, heat transformation in mechanical energy, and many other knowledge’s that would revolutionize human life in different periods, with particular regard to the last two to three centuries. Therefore, a pedagogist and an educated man must study the Greek philosophy carefully; but he must study with the same accuracy and with the same depth the Greek science. ´ The διαλoγoς is undoubtedly one of the most important tools for the entire professional career of the pedagogist. In his Socratic form reported by Plato, the founder of other professional exercises can be identified, not excluding the psychoanalysis itself, even in his more classical formulation. Remember well that it was not born with Socrates: we could start from Homer, and then from various epics, playwrights and other literates. Moreover, it had important developments and applications in different and later epochs and cultural realities.

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Overall, it is surely one of the fundamental tools for us today, but with a substantial change. In extreme synthesis, while we can substantially accept the conception of ειρωνε´ια according to Socrates, we will always consider μαιευτικη´ τšχνη as a master or professional aid to the pupil and the interlocutor to shed light on how much he can ´ develop within himself but for this reason we would never use the αληθεια concept in any case. While there is falsehood and is also called into question with ειρωνε´ιαirony, no product of human creativity can attribute the character of truth, except in an interlocutory, provisional, hypothetical sense, which can never be released from doubt and by the critic, and who is always susceptible to subsequent falsifications, for how many empirical confirmations he has received.

5 Looking for Professional Pedagogical Tools in Latin Culture The Greeks where great philosophers and scientists; the Romans where great jurists and technicians, and they learned philosophy and science from Graecia capta. It is certainly a matter to be taken into the right account, provided that the classical contribution from the philosophy and thinking in Rome and in Latin world can still be employed today, for our specific objectives too. Two excellent examples of historical masters in the Roman history, even though they are very different from each other, can be represented by Cato “the censor”, for the mos maiorum contrary to the Hellenization, and Quintilian, who had focused on the teaching of the oratory art. This second, it should be noted, had made the same choice done centuries before, and in a totally different cultural context, by the Sophists: which is not a trivial coincidence. Anyone could continue, for instance, with Ulpiano, or with Seneca (hominess dum docent discunt, a lesson of particular relevance). Historians of pedagogy have many contributions to make us from this period, as well as from the various periods of the middle ages.

6 Pedagogy of the School in the Pedagogical Profession There is a complex and articulate speech that can be made about the functional use, sometimes the essential use, in the professional pedagogy, and more generally in the social pedagogy, of a whole set of tools that have been created and developed within the field of school pedagogy. This is not just a matter of starting from Ickelsamer and Comenius, recalling the last few centuries: this has already been done to an appreciable extent, and of course it is susceptible to further substantial evolution.

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We should start at least from the educational and didactic visions of the middle ages such as the teaching of Latin, with a powerful focus on the formalized aprioristic rules for grammar and syntax. These rules also extend to the Greek after humanism, which still hinders the mastery of the four skills that pursued in the “modern” languages in a few years, and in fact prevents the start of classical language study at the university for those who do not have the substantial previous details developed in some high school addresses. But, after mentioning it, we cannot go beyond these brief notes and the simple enunciation of further examples of more modern tools: the active and passive curriculum, in the “active” sense and in the “passive” sense, the historically remote concept of the program and its integration with the programming concept. Even the three phases of the evaluation have a remote history and their respective different functions for the learner as well as for the teacher; and so on.

7 The Foundation of the Sozialpädagogik If the pedagogical professional exercise originated back to the Sophists, its next ground is attributed to foundation of the Sozialpädagogik, in that Mitteleuropa of the nineteenth century. This historical and cultural reality of prevailing German language, which also gave rise to other sciences, demonstrated to be a cornerstone for professions in the following century: the thought, the work and the teaching of Enrico Pestalozzi in the background, Karl Mager, Friedrich A. W. Diesterweg, Paul Natorp, and Émile Durkheim too in his primary contribution as a pedagogist (Blezza 2010). Here it is necessary to look for the roots of a particular social, intellectual and cultural profession, and not indulge in simple declarations in social terms of pedagogical discourse and statements. Society as such is the domain of general pedagogy (Allgemeine Pädagogik, Borrelli): the definition of a branch, like in any other science, involves the rigorous identification of a specific area or domain, then of some sectors of whole society, and other peculiarities.

8 Fromm, Frankl, Schultz Many are the conceptual tools proposed by the psychoanalyst and Sociologist, or social psychologist. from the Institut für Sozial-forschung an der Universität Frankfurt am Main (an der Johann Wolfgang Goethe—Universität) Erich S. Fromm, and we have experienced; in particular, paternal or conditioned love and maternal or unconditional love, whose balanced synthesis is the fullness of love that can be considered an art (Fromm 1956); the concepts of biophilia and necrophilia also to study the problems of violence (1973, 1983); the problem of To have or to be? (1976); the

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social vision of the state of health and illness (1991). The starting point is anywhere the freedom as social problem (1941). Particularly, Fromm’s lines of action cover the psychoanalytic and therapeutic side of some fundamental issues, leaving free and evident emphasis in those same cases the field of pedagogical intervention towards educational imbalances and deficiencies. Coming to Frankl (1951, 1961). the centrality of research by each person of their own Lebenssinn, Selbsttranszendenz and Selbstdistanzierung, and the use of tools such as die Dereflexion, der paradoxen Intention and der gemeinsame Nenner, are not the exclusive resources of the surgeon’s physician or the psychiatrist and psychotherapist, and can be functionally employed in the exercise of the pedagogical profession. Much more than the examples that Frankl himself brings in his numerous works, including popular books, problems of partnerships, work relationships, social relations and roles, for the most part are not medical problems. Finally, Das Autogenes Training (Johannes Heinrich Schultz, disciple of Oskar Vogts) is not only an effective relaxation technique but can also be a further resource in pedagogical helping relationship and interlocution to significantly enhance the pursuit of the person’s perception of relevance for himself. This involves careful redesign, not referring to the six canonical phases, whether integrated with respiratory exercises or not, but to the “der Formel”, the propositional formula, originally “(Ich bin) ganz ruhig”. The pedagogical use of this procedure is an important part of the pursuit of other purposes, such as the fullness of engagement in studies, work, and sport or in other fields, the refinement of the relationship with the partner or other close people, the overcoming of material or immaterial dependencies, the overcoming of nonpathological prejudiced state anguish, and so on. Each of these uses of the Schultz technique requires the processing, also for subsequent stages and approximations, of a propositional formula studied for each interlocutor and for each objective. This may be a typical and even exemplary pedagogical fulfilment. And the speech does not end there; the tools that can be part of the pedagogical toolbox are many and very different. It depends on the pedagogist, how he knows them and above all how he uses them.

9 Towards an Actual Professional Exercise We can conclude this brief chapter with an example synthesis of two cases professionally treated, thus respecting the scientific methodology and the scientific nature of pedagogy, so that the organic relationship with the experience is indispensable. Pedagogy is a social science, a science stricto sensu, and not a by-product of Philosophy. Some of the instruments outlined above have been applied, as readers can easily realize it.

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10 A Case of a Neo-Nuclear Family The cell and the condition of subsistence of the socio-cultural reality of the nineteenth-twentieth historical Evo was the family built according to the “nuclear” paradigm. This conventional family had at its foundation a couple with rigidly fixed roles. The genders were polarized to the extreme as a result of a powerful educational system and investment, accomplished with oppressive and violent determination. The role of the male was the investment “outside” the house such as housing, constructing and maintaining the home hearth, and controlling the family external relationships. On the other hand, the female had the complementary “inside”. This quite unnatural paradigm was not the mere product of ancient civilizations or traditions; it was the answer to the bourgeois revolutions of the late 18th century. This family structure was suffering from irreversible crisis for the last decades. It is worth noting that “neo-nuclear” families can exist nowadays and can work excellently. The difference is placing the two partners at the extremes of that polarization is the result of a free and common choice and not an educational taxation like the one in the past. In addition, it is not a must anymore that the male is the one who invests totally “out”. Indeed, the exchange of roles is becoming more and more frequent. One of these cases We treated professionally was related to a couple of spouses with a daughter possessing a firm where the expectation of success was entirely relied in the woman. The only daughter engaged in another business related to typology with expected huge profit. Her experience was unsuccessful. Both the daughter and her husband were convinced that the parents’ inability and shortcomings were the reasons for their deficit. The younger couple in this family was originally peers who became together at the age of 15–16 years. The daughter was working in the firm since her childhood and paying her contributions since her 14th birthday. She stopped herself at a high school diploma with a three-year degree from a vocational school. The partner completed his studies up to his degree in a highly professional sector. Nevertheless, he had opted for a modest, fixed-term and near-home job, also in order to be able to follow their daughter and home. He was married about 3 years after his graduation. They were married about 3 years after graduating him and after the beginning of the work of him indefinitely. Shortly after one of her parents died, and the foreseen arrangement was shortly changed because the other parent choose to retire surrendering the firm to the daughter. Despite that, their standard of living remained modest for a couple of decades. It is important to note that the young couple considered important to themselves the various status symbols and paid a deal of attention to their appearance, and hence their low budget could raise some questions. The younger family is coherent with the nuclear paradigm where the husband abstains from collaborating with his wife despite of the convenient environment for his collaboration that would have been yielded a valuable outcome, as testified by all our collected data.

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When the wife turned 49, she had already spent 35 years of contributions which was the approved time of legislation for retirement from of the industry and commerce at that time. She took the resolution of to be only a mother at home. The sale of the firm covered their relatively huge debts. At that time, the partner faced a very serious crisis. The couple decided to ask help to a pedagogist instead of a specialist in the psychotherapeutic area. It was not difficult for the couple to identify the solid contradictions in their life projects that were never minimally discussed explicitly. The husband remembered in detail all his career prospects he had declined after graduation as renunciation to support her business expecting luxury and glamor as the definite outcome. In her turn, the wife explained that she had tried to correct what she had identified as parents’ mistakes in running the company, but it was not enough to save the firm from quite low levels of survival. She also mentioned that her commitment started when she has missed her chances of studying and living as a student. The wife declared that she never asked him for any sacrifice and that he had the expectation of a better chance of living by marrying a graduate of a good professional sector. The couple had finally spoken extrovertly with fundamental intellectual honesty. Nevertheless, none of them showed any willingness to change. Hence, no one had presented the essential condition for pedagogic treatment in this case that can be described as “opening”, that is, the willingness to get back into question. The couple insisted on their ideas: the wife demanding her husband to follow alternative career path, the husband replying that it was impossible at the age of 50 and accusing his wife with inadequacy in developing her business in the interest of their family and daughter. This relationship was ended by a violent and dramatic separation after rapid deterioration followed by the husband’s new affair with another woman, a slightly older colleague and already divorced. Finally, he too asked and obtained the divorce. It is important to state the couple in this case was not the one who referred no more to the pedagogist. Their daughter, now a university student which has largely exceeded the legal number of years of study (in the italian language, “fuori corso”, “out course” but that can sign up again and at infinity according to italian legislation), had sought this help after being criticized by her parents as desperate and out of perspective. The daughter in this case who sought help had kept some illusions about a future of her parents’ relationship. But, at the contrary, they did nothing constructive as she had deluded herself to happen, they did not really matter in reality. The possibility here is to retrieve the life project of this girl without carrying the heavy loads of a father recovering his personal image and a self-employed mother which can be ultimately a social subject. What her parents were like was really a misery and it would not be enough to continue the studies, but she could have received the necessary from her grandparents, alive, or hereditary. The case, which had not a positive solution to the parents, was resolved without difficulty in the daughter. The girl had resumed regular attendance at the university, with full personal satisfaction as if it were a happy rediscovery and overtaking quite early some relatively demanding examinations.

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11 The Construction of a New Couple’s Balance The case we will discuss herein is one of the first cases treated nearly three decades ago. This case concerned a 41- and 45-year-old married couple with two sons and one daughter. The couple had met at the end of the 1950s, when the nuclear paradigm was still paramount. Considering their lives, the spouses had attended different high schools after which the husband graduated and worked in his field. The wife, on the other hand, had to abide by the conventions of that era where the woman should not hold higher degrees than her husband. Although she was passionate about her studies, she had to quit university after she had successfully completed half of the requirements of her chosen major. She too worked in the area where she graduated. The couple had a settled life together for many years, with an excellent social relationship in the village where they lived and in which both were born and raised. At some point in their marriage, they turned to the pedagogist because the wife began to have first sudden fainting, then crisis of loss of control and characterized by theatrical scene that perhaps a specialist could lead to problems that would once be called “Hysterical”. Finally, she began to refuse her husband and to mention more and more often in search of adventures. Surprisingly (but not too much …), the spouses were open to discuss their intimate life together although such conversations were considered as taboos at their time. Their stories were converging without contradictions. The “bourgeois” origin of the husband defined his social and sexual behaviours. He was formed by an education in which the husband was the consumer and the wife was the one who sacrificed. Their sexual life was characterized by repetitions with lack of imagination and preliminary actions. The couple had no difficulty in identifying the major source of dissatisfaction related to the sacrifices of the wife especially quitting her major. The husband had always kept to these styles of behaviour since the beginning of their sexual intercourse, i.e. before the marriage; the wife in the complementary sense had accepted a submissive and sacrifice for herself, but had no difficulty in recognizing that all the symptomatology that both had had to complain in herself was due to a fundamental dissatisfaction in specific sexuality that was no longer possible to endure with the ease of the previous decades. Despite that the couple had never discussed their problems before, their openness to all questions and willingness to change their behaviours led them to rediscover the strong emotional and social bond, a true love’s bond, between them. They commenced to be more imaginative in their sexual relationship focusing more on the partner’s need of affection and satisfaction. Another approach to relationship is described e.g. in (Maturo et al. 2016) or (Hoskova-Mayerova and Maturo 2018). The couple succeeded to rediscover one another and to revive the marriage after six meetings with the pedagogist that lasted for 3 months. They redecorated their bedroom reuniting the previously separate beds and they managed to remain united as family for decades after. The two partners had never spoken of it, and indeed the husband had his good reasons to say that he was convinced that this would go well for her, as she had

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her good reasons in believing that letting him make a right choice. But they both demonstrated the most complete “opening”: they could talk about it, in the end there was nothing that could not be questioned and eventually changed. Between the two the emotional and the social ties remained strong and without residue. They did not need any other help: they began to experience different ways of consuming their sexual intercourse, more respectfully mutually, more imaginative, with a focus on foreplay, as a way of witnessing each other that affection and that attachment that had never come less in so many decades. Their couple’s life was absolutely changed. Currently, at a distance of decades, the old couple is firmly united.

12 Clinical Casuistry A wide range of choices in the clinical casuistic discussed and treated by the author in his pedagogical work experience is presented in some works listed in Bibliography (Blezza 2011 Part III, 2015b, 2017).

References Bartley III, W.W. (ed.): Postscript to the Logic of Scientific Discovery by Karl R. Popper, vol. I’ Realism and the Aim of Science 0-415-08400-8, vol. II, The Open Universe 0-415-07865-2, vol. III, Quantum Theory and the Schism in Physics 0-415-09112-8. Hutchinson, London Bekesiene, S., Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Decision tree-based classification model for identification of effective leadership indicators. J. Math. Fundam. Sci. 50(2), 121–141 (2018) Blezza, F.: La pedagogia sociale – Che cos’è.di che cosa si occupa, quali strumenti impiega (2010). Liguori, Napoli. 978-8-820-75024-4 Blezza, F.: Pedagogia della vita quotidiana – Dodici anni dopo. Pellegrini, Cosenza (2011). 978-8881-01737-9 Blezza, F.: Che cos’è la pedagogia professionale. Gr. Ed. L’Espresso, Roma (2015a). 978-8-89230272-3 Blezza, F.: L’arte della parola che aiuta. Gr. Ed. L’Espresso, Roma (2015b). 978-8-891-09687-6 Blezza, F.: Il debito coniugale e altri dialoghi pedagogici. Libreria Universitaria, Rubano – PD (2017). 8-862-92824-6 Borrelli, M. (ed.): Deutsche Gegenwartspädagogik, Band I und II Schneider Verlag Hohengeren, Baltsmannweiler (1993–1996). 978-3-89676-028-9 und 978-3-87116-929-8 Canevaro, A., Chieregatti, A.: La relazione di aiuto. Carocci, Roma (1999). 978-8-843-01480-4 Crispiani, P.: Pedagogia clinica: la pedagogia sul campo, tra scienza e professione. Junior, Azzano San Paolo BG (2001). 978-8-884-34077-1 Crispiani, P., Giaconi, C.: Hermes 2016 – Glossario scientifico professionale. Junior, Azzano San Paolo BG (2015). 978-8-884-34770-1 Demetrio, D. (a cura di) “Adultità” fascicolo n. 13, aprile, sul tema “Disagio e relazione d’aiuto”. Guerini, Milano (2001). [ISSN] 2239-5288 Dewey, J.: Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. The Macmillan Company, New York (1916)

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Dewey, J.: Logic: The Theory of Inquiry. Henry Holt and Company, New York, NY (1938) Frankl, V.E.: Logos und Existenz. Drei Vorträge, Amandus-Verlag, Wien (1951). 978-4-622-085386 Frankl, V.E.: Grundriß der Existenzanalyse und Logotherapie. In: Frankl, E., von Gebsattel, V.E., Schultz, J.H. (eds.) Handbuch der Neurosenlehre und Psychotherapie (5 b.), Urban & Schwarzenberg, München und Berlin (1951–1961). 978-3-5254-0259-7 Fromm, E.S.: Escape from Freedom. Farrar & Rinehart, New York (1941). 978-0-8050-3149-2 Fromm, E.S.: The Art of Loving. Harper & Row, New York (1956). 978-0-06-112973-5 Fromm, E.S.: The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York (1973). 978-0-8050-1604-8 Fromm, E.S.: Über die Liebe zum Leben. Rundfunksendungen. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart (1983). 978-3-423-34706-8 Fromm, E.S.: Die Pathologie der Normalität. Zur Wissenschaft vom Menschen. Quadriga, Berlin (1991). 978-3-548-36778-1 Fromm, E.S.: To have or to be? Harper & Row, New York (1976). 978-0-8050-1604-8 Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Maturo, A.: Algebraic hyperstructures and social relations. Ital. J. Pure Appl. Math. 39, 701–709 (2018) James, W.: The Principles of Psychology, vols. 2. Henry Holt and Co., New York (1890) Lapassade, G.: L’autogestion pédagogique. In: Guigou, J., Giraud, M., Lourau, R. (eds.) GauthierVillars, Paris, avec la collaboration par (1971) Lapassade, G.: Groupes, Organisations, Institutions. Gauthiers-Villars, Paris (1975) Lumbelli, L.: Comunicazione non autoritaria. Franco Angeli, Milano (1972). 9-788-82040-449-9 Massa, R. (ed.): La clinica della formazione. Franco Angeli, Milano (1992). 9-788-8-2047-328-0 Maturo, A., Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Soitu, D.T., Kacprzyk, J. (eds.): Recent Trends in Social Systems: Quantitative Theories and Quantitative Models, Book Series: Studies in System, Decision and Control 66. Springer International Publishing AG, 426 p., https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-31940585-8 (2016) Peirce, C.S.: Collected Papers, vols. 8. Harvard University Press, Cambridge Massachusetts (1931–1958) Polya, G.: How to Solve it—A new Aspect of Mathematical Method. Doubleday and Co. Inc., Garden City, New York (1945) Popper, K.R.: Logik der Forschung - Zur Erkenntnistheorie der modernen Naturwissenschaft. Springer, Wien (impressum 1935, tatsächlich 1934). 978-3-709-12021-7 Popper, K.R.: Unended Quest: An Intellectual Autobiography. Routledge, London and New York (1976). 0-415-28589-5 Popper, K.R.: Alles Leben ist Problemlösen: Über Erkenntnis, Geschicht und Politik. Piper, München (1994). 3-492-22300-1 Rezzara, A. (ed.): Dalla scienza pedagogica alla clinica della formazione. Franco Angeli, Milano (2004). 9-788-8-4645-863-6 Rogers, C.: Client-Centered Therapy: Its Current Practice, Implications and Theory. Constable, London (1951). 1-84119-840-4 Rogers, C.: On Becoming a Person: A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy. Constable, London (1961). 1-84529-057-7 Rogers, C.: On Personal Power: Inner Strength and Its Revolutionary Impact. Delacorte Press, New York (1977). 978-0-4400-0980-1 Rogers, C.: Way of Being. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, (1980). 1-00319-161-7 Schultz, J.H.: Das Autogene Training (konzentrative Selbstentspannung). Versuch einer klinischpraktischen Darstellung. Thieme, Leipzig, zahlr. Aufl (1932). 978-3-1340-1417-4 Schultz, J.H.: Übungsheft für das Autogene Training (konzentrative Selbstentspannung). Thieme, Leipzig (zahlr. Aufl.) (1935). 3-8304-3157-0

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Schultz, J.H.: Das original Übungsheft für das autogenic Training. Anleitung vom Begründer der Selbstentspannung 24. Auflage. TRIAS, Stuttgart (2004). 978-3-8937-3601-0 Telleri, F. (ed.): Consulenza e mediazione pedagogica, con materiale multimediale. Carlo Delfino editore, Sassari (2006). 978-8-8713-8394-1 Vogt, O.: Neurobiologische Arbeiten. Fischer, Jena (1903)

Analysis of the Sociability of Older People in Urban Environments Evaristo Barrera Algarín, María Josefa Vázquez-Fernández and Alberto Sarasola Fernández

Abstract This chapter aims to review the importance for older people of using, accessing and occupying spaces in the city. Based on data collected through research carried out in the City of Seville and published in various formats, the differences in the use of spaces according to the age of the population, the deficits that these spaces show, and their relationship with the situation of dependency on older people are shown. This work establishes a direct relationship between the social integration of older people, with the degree of participation in the society in which they find themselves, and therefore, with the use and access to the different spaces of sociability, which is definitely where they exercise this social participation. In relation to the data obtained, we provide conclusions and guidelines that may be of interest to technicians, researchers, land planners and those who can decide on policies that modify the urban space. Keywords Elder people · Dependence · Sociability · Urban spaces · Social integration · Social participation

1 Introduction This work is based on studies published by Barrera et al. (2010, 2011, 2012), on the analysis of the Sociability of older people in the city of Seville. The analysis of sociability in this group is one of the fundamental elements for understanding and understanding participation, inclusion and therefore the social integration of the group of older people in urban contexts (which traditionally are proposed to us as

E. B. Algarín (B) · M. J. Vázquez-Fernández · A. Sarasola Fernández Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Cta. De Utrera, Km.1, 41013 Seville, Spain e-mail: [email protected] M. J. Vázquez-Fernández e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_23

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less “community” and less supportive of the elderly), also analysing the relationship with the degree of dependency (Barrera et al. 2011, p. 32). The urban context reflects the phenomenon of generalised ageing that occurs worldwide, linked to a reduction in the younger population (0–16 years old), and an increase in the older population (60 years old and over), combined with an increase in Life Expectancy and a decrease in Mortality. According to OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) data referring to 2017 (see Graph 1) the young population has been declining in Spain, from 27.8% in 1971 to 15.2% in 2014. On the other hand, there has been a significant increase in the older population. It has gone from 7.8% of elderly people in Spain in 1956 to 18.3% in 2014 (see Graph 2). According to World Bank data, life expectancy at birth in Spain has increased from 69 years in 1960 to 83 in 2014 (World Bank 2017). The aspects related to migratory movements are also important in the impact of population ageing (Vallejo et al. 2017), although we will not develop them here. This work and the studies on which it is based start from the concept of sociability. According to Barrera et al. (2010, p. 2): This can be understood a priori as the ways and means in which older people interact in a participatory, implicit and bidirectional way with their community of reference, their urban environment, their neighbourhood, their peers, neighbours… with the context, both infrastructural and human (individual, group and/or collective), that surrounds them. This means, through the different forms of participation (understood in a broad sense), and its associative, playful, voluntary and leisure manifestations, etc. And how these can vary according to the degree of dependency of the elderly.

Graph 1 Evolution of the young population in OECD, EU (28), and Spain (1959–2014). Source OECD (2017a)

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Graph 2 Evolution of the older population in the EU (28) and Spain (1956–2014). Source OECD (2017b)

The analysis of sociability already has an interesting research trajectory, which is summarized in Table 1. The different approaches to the concept and analysis of Sociability tell us about its heterogeneity and diversity. It proposes almost any place or space where human beings can express themselves and interact with other people. It is a natural phenomenon and characteristic of people as social beings. Playing, eating, playing sports, walking, etc. are elements linked to human sociability. Barrera, Malagón, and Sarasola, in order to conceptually delineate these initial research questions, approached the classical ideas of Agulhon and Bodiguel (1981) on associationism, the study on sociability in Andalusia by Bernal and Lacroix (1975), the contributions of Dumazedier (1966), the analysis on the associative reality of the Spaniards carried out by Linz (1971), or the contributions from urban anthropology by Cuco (2004) (Barrera et al. 2010, p. 4; Hoskova-Mayerova and Rosicka 2015). In the same vein, Sarasola et al. (2017) published similar conclusions years later, studying elders sociability in the urban area and its relation with the dependency degree.

2 Methodology The observation of sociability in older people was structured in different spaces of social reality, including “non-places” (Augé 1998). A representative urban context

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Table 1 Sociability studies Year

Author

Kind of study

1993

Morales

Historical analysis

1995

Calzada

Historical analysis

1999

Navarro

Historical analysis

2001

Pérez

Historical analysis

2001

Uría

Historical analysis

2005

Franco

Historical analysis

2000

Homobono

Types and characteristics of sociability sites

2003

Martínez

Types and characteristics of sociability sites

2003

Guereña

Types and characteristics of sociability sites

2007

Maza

Types and characteristics of sociability sites

2003

Barruso

Sociability and local variables

2003

Zabalza

Sociability and local variables

2006

Morales

Sociability and local variables

2007

Valcuende

Sociability and local variables

2005

Torres

Sociability and immigrant community

2003

Lamikiz

Sociability and youth

Source Own elaboration from Barrera et al. (2011)

was chosen; in the City of Seville, very different spaces were analysed, such as Daycare Centres, associations, residences, clubs, parks and recreation areas in the city, public and private places, etc. Also taken into account were those elderly dependents who could not exercise this sociability. The research analyzed the sociability of the elderly in two generic types of subjects: the elderly (over 60 years old) who are in the places mentioned above (with special attention to the dependency variable), and the not elderly who are in those same places (18–60 years old). At the same time, urban and spatial characteristics were linked to the sociability, using zoning and mappings of the City of Seville. For all this, a mixed methodology (qualitative and quantitative) was used. It is specified in the following techniques: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Survey (Cronbach Alpha: ´926.): In-depth interviews. Discussion group. Observation (3 types): 4.1. Space for the elderly 4.2. Non-major spaces 4.3. Public transport

5. Generation of maps and study zoning where they are reflected:

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Table 2 Quantitative analysis of the techniques used Techniques

Type

Number

Dependent variables

Survey

I

216

11

Independent variables 160

Discussion group

I

1

9

13

Observation

I

33

14

132

II

33

14

132

III

22

8

15

Interviews

I

7

12

15

Mapping

I







Total

7

312

68

467

Source Barrera et al. (2010, p. 5)

5.1. 5.2. 5.3. 5.4.

Statistical and demographic data of the target population. Listing of resources available in the different areas of the City of Seville. Model of a card for the systematization and subsequent zoning of the city. Other techniques: During the investigation, different techniques were used to collect, sort, record and tabulate information. The statistical and computer techniques useful to the study were also used, which have been used to work with the information obtained. SPSS and MAXQDA, or programs for zoning and mapping such as: Microsoft Office, Arcview, and Autocad.

These techniques studied a total of 467 independent variables (see Table 2).

3 Results These research studies give us interesting information about the characteristics of the elderly in the city of Seville. There is an evolution in the self-perception of the elderly towards more positive aspects. The older one is perceived more freely today. It is characterized by being busy, or looking for an occupation: The idea of being active (among other things, the Senior Classrooms stand out). The increase in life expectancy has caused the concept of higher life expectancy to change: the distinction between the “young” (60–79 years) and the “older” (80 and +) elders. The main fear: to consider it a useless thing to “grow old”. They are looking for more freedom to enjoy their leisure and free time, so that they are doing activities that some years ago were not considered typical of older people. Dependence is a determining and limiting factor when it comes to developing social, leisure and leisure activities. The care of grandchildren has a double perception, associated with the contributions of Villalba (2002) in his studies on grandmothers as caregivers: It makes the elderly feel useful and busy, but also makes it impossible to enjoy and use social spaces. Another limiting factor in the use of space and free time are the family and social circumstances (crosses the fact of being caregivers of dependent people, and the class

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issue basically). The older and non-major citizens of the City live their sociability mainly at extradomestic levels, constituting Seville as a fundamental axis of spaces of sociability. Older people in general prefer to occupy the spaces of sociability accompanied by other people. Barrera, Malagón, and Sarasola help us to understand how older people use the most gerontological spaces: In reference to public transport, the female population predominates. There are high rates of male and female loneliness. The presence of children under 60 years of age is particularly noteworthy. In the Residence Hall, the female population is predominant. Important rates of male and female loneliness. The Day Centre (Houses and clubs) is predominantly male. Important rates of male and female loneliness. Greater presence of a non-dependent population and children under 60 years of age. In the university classrooms, the female population is predominant, and people who go alone or accompanied are equated. In the Day Stay Units, the female population predominates and they found a greater presence of non-dependent population. In general, in these spaces the highest rates of dependency are detected in women, there is a greater presence of non-dependent population, there is an important interaction with population under 60 years of age, and a significant gender difference is detected in the use of the spaces: Men usually use them alone, and women usually use them accompanied (Barrera et al. 2011, pp. 141–153). Both in senior and non-major spaces, a high degree of interaction has been observed between people in the same age group over 60 and people of other ages, mostly family members. In non-elderly spaces, older people tend to form groups with people of the same age: generational groupings in common social spaces. If we focus on the sociability spaces of older people, these are many and diverse. The main areas of sociability of the largest in Seville can be seen in Table 3.

Table 3 Most important social spaces for the elderly in Seville Places and activities most frequented by elderly people

Non-elderly places and activities, frequented by the elderly

Places and activities less frequented by elderly people

Parks Churches Make trips Pensioner’s home (day care centre) Health centre Workshops or courses

Associations Coffee shops Clubs Shopping centres Public transport Squares Community centres Neighbourhood association

Restaurants University Bars, pubs or other Casinos or recreational areas Voluntary activities Internet café Call centers Cinema Theater Library Social service centres Gyms or sports centres Adult education

Source Barrera et al. (2010, p. 12)

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The general view on whether the city of Seville offers sufficient leisure spaces for older people is positive (although not decisive). If we cross-check the data with a gender perspective, it presents a very strong polarity, which is reflected in the following way: Almost 50% of men say that Seville does offer enough leisure spaces for adults. However, 46% of women say that Seville does not offer enough leisure spaces for the elderly (Barrera et al. 2011). This study analyzes the limitations and characteristics of access to social spaces. In general, there are impediments and barriers to enjoyment and access to the spaces of sociability that range from the home of the elderly, to the space itself. This is aggravated in dependent elderly people. Although in most cases the impediments are outside the home, therefore salvageable with adequate accessibility policies and investments. On the other hand, in the spaces, conflicts are detected along the following lines: Intergenerational conflicts, and Conflicts between dependents/non-dependents (referring to the lack of empathy of the latter). The population itself detects significant imbalances and imbalances within the different districts and districts of the City. These mismatches are attributed to problems of coordination and mismanagement by the Local Administration. Dependent people are mostly self-reliant in older spaces due to the architectural facilities they offer and their affinity with the range of activities they undertake. In nursing homes, the majority of people with reduced mobility are accompanied by a professional or their own partner. Older people’s spaces present a greater elimination of architectural barriers as opposed to other spaces. However, this difference is not outstanding. Main architectural barriers that limit the use of social spaces: Lack of lifts, lack of ramps in the access to housing, shops, cultural institutions, etc. On dependency and sociability, the general perception of the population is that dependent elderly people or those with autonomy problems are at a disadvantage in relation to the rest of the population in terms of access to and enjoyment of the social spaces in Seville. One element that is perceived as correcting this imbalance is the Dependency Law. The greater the degree of dependency on older people, the more difficult it becomes to take advantage of the possibilities of sociability, and vice versa (Barrera et al. 2010, 2011, 2012).

4 Conclusions The following initial hypotheses could be verified: The sociability of older people, as an active principle of integration/social inclusion, cannot be understood exclusively in older people’s contexts, but rather in contexts of interaction between older people and those with non-older people. There are differences in sociability according to the heterogeneity of the group of older people, and especially according to class variables (in relation to the professional past), ethnicity, sex-gender, age, and income typology at present (income and pensions).

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In the city of Seville, there are different possibilities of sociability for older people in relation to the different distribution of spaces for this purpose, being closely related to areas more or less benefited with infrastructural endowments and leisure-cultural, leisure and/or sports facilities. The sociability of the elderly person will be different depending on the characteristics of the place of residence. The greater the degree of dependency of the elderly, the greater the difficulty in taking advantage of the possibilities of sociability; and conversely, the existing spaces of sociability do not allow a correct use by elderly dependants (Barrera et al. 2010, 2011, 2012).

5 Proposals for Improvement • Importance of Retirement Preparation to face the stages of old age and use of social spaces. • As for the spaces of sociability, those that allow intergenerationality, especially civic centers, are the most balanced in the different spaces. • In general terms, the lack of resources for the sociability of older people is highlighted, and calls for an increase in the supply of services and resources. The research, in relation to this, reveals a differentiation in the perception of the city according to the gender variable: This implies making modifications to the right of services and resources according to this gender variable. • Older people want to be consulted and asked when planning social spaces and the activities and services that can be made available to them. • It is proposed that the spaces and resources be adjusted by zones (districts and/or districts) to the demographic, cultural and social characteristics of the same. This proposal is complemented by a major distortion that this research reveals. There is a mismatch between the most aged areas in the city and the number of elderly people in each area. As we can see, there are less aged districts in the city, but at absolute levels present higher levels of population of +60 years. For example, in the “Casco Antigüo” area, which has the highest ageing rate, it has a total population of 13,953 over 60 years old (year 2010). But areas such as “Macarena” or “Sur” (with very low rates of aging), add up to 20,938 and 16,532 higher censuses. The problem arises when research finds that these spaces with a larger population are under-resourced in spaces, resources and services for the elderly. • The proposals that older people put forward, go through physical improvements in terms of accessibility and improvements in terms of the offer of these spaces, such as leisure spaces for older people. • Concrete proposals made from the consulted population: (a) Leisure activities in the neighbourhoods that promote genuine coexistence between neighbours living together in the same area of the city. (b) Build more green areas and parks to relate to. (c) To have more libraries (sociability space for the elderly).

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(d) Carry out more leisure activities, social activities, workshops or similar activities in civic centres. This is one of the most valued social spaces for Sevillians, and also presents a better coverage and distribution by the city. (e) Build more day centres where you can socialize. (f) To have professionals, such as a social worker, to report on the services that exist in the neighbourhoods because they consider that in many cases there are services but they are not used due to ignorance (Barrera et al. 2010, 2011, 2012).

References Agulhon, M., Bodiguel, M.: Associations in the Village. Le Paradou (1981) Augé, M.: Towards an Anthropology of the Contemporary Worlds. Gedisa, Barcelona (1998) Barrera, E., Malagón, J.L., Sarasola, J.L.: The social integration of the elderly in the urban space. En Nº 46 de Aposta revista de ciencias sociales (RCS) (2010) Barrera, E., Malagón, J.L., Sarasola, J.L.: From Sociability to Dependence on the Elderly: Study of the City of Seville. Approaching the Sociability Aspects of Older People in Urban Environments. Editorial Académica Española (2011) Barrera, E., Malagón, J.L., Sarasola, J.L.: The sociability of older people. In: Vázquez, De la Fuente (eds.) Social Work Facing the Challenges of a Changing World, pp. 1208–1227. Universidad de Huelva Publicaciones (2012) Bernal, A.M., Lacroix, J.: Aspects of Andalusian Sociability: Seville Associations (XIX–XX). Melanges de la Casa de Velázquez (1975) Cuco, J.: Urban Anthropology. Ariel, Madrid (2004) Dumazedier, J.: Leisure and Culture. Edic. du seuil, Paris (1966) Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Rosicka, Z.: E-learning pros and cons: active learning culture? Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 191, 958–962 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.702 Linz, J.J.: The associative reality of the Spaniards. In VV. AA, Spanish Sociology of the 1970s, Confederación Española de Cajas de Ahorros, pp. 307–349 (1971) OECD: Young population (indicator). https://doi.org/10.1787/3d774f19-en (2017a). Accessed 13 Jan 2017 OECD: Elderly population (indicator). https://doi.org/10.1787/8d805ea1-en (2017b). Accessed 13 Jan 2017 Sarasola, J.L., Vallejo, A., Sarasola, A.: Sociability and dependence. In: Hošková-Mayerová, Š., Maturo, F., Kacprzyk, J. (eds.) Mathematical-Statistical Models and Qualitative Theories for Economic and Social Sciences, pp. 309–323. Springer International Publishing (2017) Vallejo, A., Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Krahulec, J., Sarasola, J.L.: Risks associated with reality: how society views the current wave of migration: one common problem—two different solutions. In: Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol. 104, pp. 283–305. Springer International Publishing (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54819-7_19 Villalba, C.: Nursing Grandmothers. Tirant lo Blanch, Valencia (2002) World Bank: Esperanza de vida al nacer en España 1960–2014. Available at: http://datos. bancomundial.org/indicador/SP.DYN.LE00.IN?end=2014&locations=ES&start=1960&view= chart (2017). Acceso el 13/01/2017

Professional Insights on Intercultural Intervention in Diversity Contexts Manuela A. Fernández-Borrero, Fernando Relinque-Medina and Susana Martí-García

Abstract This chapter previews an initial research project that studies the perceptions of social practitioners in the context of cultural diversity. The study consists of a qualitative and network analysis about important intervention elements and difficulties. Twenty-seven in-depth interviews from practitioners in Spain, the United Kingdom and Italy have been analysed. The main results show the relevant aspects of intercultural management, the relevance of considering context such as the action framework, and the importance of training and emotional aspects. The most important barriers are the lack of understanding, language differences and the scarcity of resources and time to develop good professional practices. The orientations focus on the vision of the systemic intervention, contemplating the skills and factors of people and professionals, as well as the structural, contextual consideration and the barriers that come from the system itself. Keywords Practitioners · Social intervention · Interculturality · Intercultural competence

1 Introduction The presence of diversity in current contexts causes changes in social interactions and in the dynamics of institutions and entails multi-directional accommodations in different dimensions of basic social structures. M. A. Fernández-Borrero · F. Relinque-Medina (B) · S. Martí-García Department of Sociology, Social Work and Public Health, Facultad de Trabajo Social, University of Huelva, Campus El Carmen, Avda Tres de Marzo s/n, 21007 Huelva, Spain e-mail: [email protected] M. A. Fernández-Borrero e-mail: [email protected] S. Martí-García e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_24

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In these contexts, the provision of adequate services to a culturally diverse population is a challenge. Diverse societies need to develop services that incorporate the intercultural paradigm, favouring equality of access and providing services to all citizens, regardless of their origin or provenance. As a substantial element of the Welfare State, social services are fundamental for the integration processes of many individuals. According to Torres (2011), moving towards the acceptance of diversity involves incorporating structural changes in society and in political institutions. The existing models of social services and benefits were designed years ago and have not followed a parallel update to social changes. They have not adjusted to the transition from monocultural to multicultural and intercultural societies. That is why public administrations, professionals, practitioners and social actors must make efforts to understand and adjust to social transformation, providing answers to new emerging questions and needs from the development of interculturally competent professional practices. For this author (Torres 2011, p. 96), such efforts would be a question of the “management” of diversity, related to the construction of reality, or “setting up something new from the existing.” In this adaptation of services, professional performance is located in a key position for the development of good practice in intercultural contexts. Associated with this practice is the notion of intercultural competence from a multidimensional and contextual approach. This work shows first a conceptual approach to intercultural competence, as well as the relationships established in the framework of the professional provision of social services. Subsequently, the results of the qualitative research developed with these professionals are shown, along with their considerations of professional social intervention in contexts of cultural diversity and the main barriers or difficulties they encountered.

2 Theory 2.1 Different Societies and Interculturality According to Fajardo (2009), diversity is inherent in the evolution of humanity, varying the way in which society manages and understands it, from negative conceptions based on racism, xenophobia or assimilationism to others such as cultural pluralism, multiculturalism or interculturality. The existence of multiculturalism is not established as an option in many current societies, but rather, it is a given and existing objective situation. The situation can be presented in the way of managing diversity, understanding it and acting in and with it. In the face of numerous existing criticisms towards multiculturalism, the use of interculturalism is advocated as an alternative (rather than complementary) orientation. Interculturalism implies a dynamic relationship between the subjects in a particular context, generating a continuous and mutual cultural readjustment.

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Interculturality is a type of relationship that is established intentionally between cultures that advocates dialogue between them in a framework of joint respect. Adopting the understanding given by Vázquez-Aguado et al. (2009, p. 11), interculturalism can be understood as a social practice, a way of perceiving and acting within a culturally diverse society, one that recognizes the relevance of the individual within an atmosphere of cultural diversity, which goes through the dialogue between cultures as an element of social cohesion on the basis of equal dignity and common values. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in its report WorldReport, Investing in Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue (2009), launched the message of the need for a post-multiculturalist alternative, which abandons exclusive and static identities and moves towards more dynamic understandings of cultural plurality. These criticisms have caused the term multiculturalism to be used less and to be progressively replaced by other concepts, among which we highlight interculturality. The existing conceptualization and theory about this concept is extensive. Interculturality is understood in most proposals in a multidimensional and relational way. For Barrett (2013, pp. 28, 29) the key elements of interculturalism would be (a) appreciation of cultural diversity and pluralism, (b) emphasis on integration and inclusion, (c) elimination of political and structural elements that support inequalities and discrimination, (d) application of weight to relevant intercultural dialogue and interaction processes, (e) adoption of a goal of generating social cohesion, (f) relevance of intercultural competence for all people, (g) support for the development of interculturality by politics and institutions, (h) learning the dominant language and the right to preserve one’s own language, and (i) fostering intercultural dialogue beyond interpersonal relationships (Hoskova-Mayerova and Rosicka 2012; Hoskova-Mayerova 2014).

2.2 Intercultural Competence In recent years, intercultural competence has been widely studied and defended in health services. In this sense, Campinha-Bacote (2002) proposes the development of intercultural competence in professionals as a mechanism for the provision of quality intercultural services. We believe that, as in the case of healthcare, social services and social service professionals should also be oriented to professional development through intercultural competence and the optimal management of existing cultural diversity. Under this logic, many authors do not differentiate between the individual or professional level and the organizational or institutional level, a distinction that we consider fundamental. Both levels are different, although they must be understood to be interrelated. At the professional level, which is the subject of this contribution, intercultural competence is related to professional activities. For Cejas and Pérez (2007), the concept of competence encompasses not only the skills necessary for an adequate

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professional practice but also the behaviours, decision-making capacity, analysis, etc. that are considered necessary for the full performance of a given profession. Intercultural competence will involve the provision and exercise of a series of knowledge, skills and attitudes that allow people to develop their tasks and functions. For Padilla and Pérez (2003), this competence is one of the basic pillars of acculturation processes. According to Aneas (2003), it will enable the person to be a better professional in intercultural relationships and will promote the integration of cultural minorities. For this author, the bases of this competence are professional qualification; developing and counting on a series of knowledge, skills and attitudes that allow efficient and effective execution of the functions; and the psychosocial elements present in intercultural relations. In the Social Work Dictionary (Fernández et al. 2012), this IC is defined as follows. The set of skills, aptitudes, knowledge, abilities, attitudes and behaviors acquired as a result of a long-term nonlinear process through interaction in contexts of diversity. It allows effective management of cultural diversity, enables people to function effectively in intercultural relations spaces and empowers professionals to successfully perform their work in multicultural environments. (p. 97)

The Council of Europe (2008) indicates that the components of IC are knowledge, skills and attitudes or behaviours, which are complemented by personal values framed within the membership of social groups and are linked to the identities of people. In a more detailed way, the Council of Europe indicates the following: – Intercultural attitudes are related to openness, curiosity, and the suppression of judgement about other cultures and beliefs; – Knowledge about social groups, their actions and products, social and individual interaction, and the knowledge of social processes and their results; – Interpretation and relationship skills, knowing how to understand other cultures, and being able to explain them and relate them to one’s own culture; – Discovery and interaction skills (know how to learn and do) and knowing how to acquire new knowledge of cultures and their practices; and – Critical cultural awareness (knowing how to commit), reflecting the ability to evaluate critically and with coherent criteria and to take into account the facts and practices of other cultures and their own.

2.3 Professional Practice and Intercultural Competence Much of the existing literature on intercultural competence indicates the need to properly handle cultural knowledge, as well as skills in professional practice (AllenMears 2007). As indicated by Fernández-Borrero (2015, p. 55), managing diversity cannot be reduced to a certain degree of technicalization of social relations, offering a set of proposals, guidelines, methodologies and instruments that can improve the understanding and management of this diversity. We cannot limit this competence to a

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professional profile that seeks to respond to the training and technical needs of professionals who work in contexts of diversity. We must go further, working on the development of an interactive concept of social action, contemplating the dynamics of change that are generated by putting different people in contact in the same space. The development of competencies linked to management and the positive understanding of cultural diversity is both necessary and a challenge. According to UNESCO (2013), intercultural competencies include having sufficient knowledge about the diverse cultures with which they interact, as well as more global knowledge about cultural interactions and cultural diversity. It is also advisable to have the necessary skills for the implementation of favourable attitudes to interaction and intercultural diversity. For Barrett (2013), the term competence denotes not only skills applied in specific intercultural contexts but also the ability to respond successfully to situations (such as intercultural situations) that entail tasks, difficulties and challenges in which the answers that must be given require the application of a complex framework of values, attitudes, knowledge, understandings, abilities and behaviours. Weaver (1997, p. 2) mentioned that a culturally competent social worker is the one who can effectively apply social work skills in a context of diversity with knowledge and respect for the culture of the user. Especially, this author identifies as key components the knowledge of the culture and cultural context of the person or group with whom she or he works, the current aspects and points of view of the territory where individuals develop their profession, and having appropriate values and appropriate skills. Mary Richmond has already noted the need to consider diversity in professional practice. She suggested that the professional must “learn that he cannot ignore the national characteristics of immigrants completely; not fall into the error of considering them as members of a colony or of a nationality, with fixed characteristics; and not fall into the error of ignoring their racial national peculiarities and trying to apply to them the same criteria that they would apply to their compatriots.” For León (2007, p. 204), the competence of the professionals with respect to intercultural intervention starts from becoming aware of the cultural diversity and the dynamics of change generated by any communication, without forgetting that the simple fact of putting people in contact with different people in the same space does not presuppose a guarantee of a successful exchange, nor does it suppose that the Other is the only bearer of culture and difference. Perez (2012) states that one of the specific challenges for social work is to recognize the diversity of meanings, ways of acting and feeling derived from cultural diversity, understanding the links and tensions, and being able to build transformative actions of exclusion around existing social problems.

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3 Analysis of Results 3.1 Methodology 3.1.1

Participants

In the study that is presented, a total of 27 people from different nationalities, who are residents of Spain (Huelva), Italy (Padua) and the United Kingdom (Birmingham), participated. The subjects are social service professionals, both public employees and employees of the Third Sector whose training is in social work, social education or psychology, as well as intercultural mediators. The profile of the people interviewed is presented in Table 1, showing the country of residence, the profession and the membership entity. The sample has been selected for accessibility, always respecting the fulfilment of the criteria of being a social professional working with a culturally diverse population. In the same way, the “snowball” technique has been used to access the participants.

3.1.2

Instrument

The instrument used was a semi-structured in-depth interview composed of different questions grouped by thematic blocks. This paper presents the exploited results of interview questions directly related to aspects of professional practice at the level of direct intervention with users of different cultures and in the barriers or main difficulties perceived. The aspects incorporated in the analysis are as follows. – Identification issues: respondents are allowed to know the profession and the entity, as well as basic training aspects. It includes a question on job description developed as a professional in the organization where each person interviewed works. – Aspects of professional intervention, including questions about the following: • Knowledge considered necessary for the proper management of diversity for their profession; • Their opinions on their own formation of answers to these questions, as well as the indication of competences and capacities that would identify the suitable professional exercise in contexts of diversity; • Relationship of positive and negative real cases; • Identification of the possible difficulties existing for the development of intercultural competence in their professions; and • The role of emotional competences in these intervention processes, as well as the relevance of the values.

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Table 1 Profile of participants in the study Country/city

N

Profession

Entity

Spain (Huelva)

1

Lawyer (social and labor market integration)

ACCEM

2

Social worker (Director)

ACCEM

3

Social worker (Secretary)

Social Services Provincial Deputation Huelva

4

Social worker

Social Services Provincial Deputation Huelva

5

Social worker

Hacan (minors with judicial measures)

6

Social worker

MALIKA

7

Social worker

Municipal Social Services

1

Social work Professor

University of Birmingham

2

Social worker

Public Social and Labor Market Integration Center

3

Social worker

Charity Association with Young People

4

Social worker

Charity Association for Children and Youth

5

Social work Professor

University of Birmingham

6

Social worker

Asylum entity, refugees, migrants

7

Social worker

Asylum entity, refugees, migrants

8

Psychologist

Educational quality agency

9

Sociologist

Asylum and refuge international entity

United Kingdom (Birmingham)

Italy (Padua)

10

Sociologist

Freelance researcher

1

Intercultural mediator

Moroccan Association in Padua

2

Social worker (Director)

Coop.SocialeCo.Ge.S. Asylum and Refuge Italy

3

Intercultural mediator

Various public areas

4

Social worker

Entity intercultural linguistic mediation

5

Psychologist (European project)

Entity Xena

6

Social worker (volunteering)

Entity Xena

7

Social worker (manager)

Entity UnicaTerra project “Dopo Scuola” for minors of foreign origin (continued)

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Table 1 (continued) Country/city

3.1.3

N

Profession

Entity

8

Project manager and administration

Entity UnicaTerra

9

Social worker

Social Cooperative DIA (unaccompanied foreign minors and women)

10

Social worker (responsible for languages courses)

Entity UnicaTerra

11

Psychologist (project “Dopo Scuola”)

Entity UnicaTerra

12

Social cooperator

Associazione Migranti Onlus—CGIL Padova (Dip. Immigrazione)

Fieldwork

In total, 27 in-depth interviews were carried out in the work place of the participants or in neutral spaces such as local universities (University of Huelva, University of Padua or University of Birmingham). We obtained consent for audio recording in all interviews and complied with the legal regulations and ethical regulations in the case of those conducted in Birmingham (because the University has a specific code of ethics added for this type of study). The duration of the sessions ranged from 45 to 60 min, and all were recorded and transcribed in the native language of the participants.

3.1.4

Treatment and Analysis of Information

The qualitative methodology used focuses on discourse analysis to obtain comprehensive explanations. The transcribed interviews have been analysed and processed with the Atlas.ti 6.1 software. The analysis of the results has been addressed through the graphic representation of the main elements extracted (codes) and studied, as well as their direct reflection in literal quotations from the discourse of the participants. In addition, the relationships between different codes are analysed through a relational matrix. The visual representation of the networks locates the nodes analysed (codes) and their relationships with other nodes (with the software Atlas.ti 6.0 and Netdraw). To this is added the analysis of the properties of the relationships between nodes through a causal matrix that enables the analysis of networks to carry out the prioritization of elements (García Andreu et al. 2010; Domínguez and Relinque 2014). For this matrix analysis, NetDraw and Ucinet have been used, which allow the study of the influence exerted by the different nodes on the total of the causal structure, studying the centrality of the causal network that allows knowing the status of an element in

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the network. The measures that are used for the analysis of centrality in this article are the degree, betweenness and closeness, which we define as follows (Freeman 1979). – Degree: this is the number of direct loops of a code (or node), that is, with how many other nodes it is directly connected. The degree points out the most important relationships in a speech. – Betweenness: this indicates the frequency with which a node appears in the shortest (or geodetic) section connecting two others. That is, it shows when a code is an intermediary between two others that are not related to each other. This analysis favours the establishment of intervention strategies. – Closeness degree: this indicates the proximity of a node to the rest of the network. Closeness represents the ability of a node to reach the rest of the network with the shortest route. It allows us to know which elements are more effective in the intervention processes.

3.2 Results The complete network of the study is made up of 47 nodes (codes). For this contribution, we have deepened the analysis of 23 codes directly related to professional intervention and the difficulties encountered. The graphic network shown represents the network of nodes and their relationships (Fig. 1). The relationships most present in the discourse are reflected in the degree value (number of directly related nodes), which identifies the main items mentioned in the professionals’ discourse. Table 2 shows the nodes according to their degree value. It shows the emotional competences and the difficulties of cultural understanding as well as that the consideration of the context in the professional interventions are the codes that are present to a greater extent in the professionals’ discourse. These aspects are followed by difficulties encountered, such as insufficient resources and the linguistic barrier due to language differences. Equally relevant are the perception of the need to consider the management of diversity in interventions and the importance of having good intercultural training. Second, the results extracted from the analysis of betweenness are shown. The intermediation (betweenness) of a node shows its frequency of appearance between two others that are not directly related to each other. Table 2 shows a classification where high scores reflect a greater effect on other nodes and greater connectivity capacity in the global nature of the network, which leads to relational influences in regard to understanding professional practice and possible areas of focus for improving the professional practice and care in contexts of cultural diversity and with people from different cultural backgrounds (Table 3). The betweenness is relevant for the difficulties of understanding in the context of a professional intervention and for having adequate training. In addition, maintaining

Fig. 1 Global network of nodes. Source Self made

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Table 2 Degree of the nodes of the network studied Nodes

Degree

Nodes

Degree

1 EMOTIONAL SKILLS

6.000

3 DIF_Public administration

4.000

4 DIF_cultural understanding

6.000

2 CONTACT

4.000

17 INT_Context

6.000

22 INT_Integration

3.000

9 DIF_Time

5.000

5 DIF_Lack of training

3.000

6 DIF_Lack of resources

5.000

19 INT_experience

3.000

7 DIF_Language

5.000

12 FOR_Need more training

2.000

20 INT_diversity management

5.000

15 INT_Assistentialism

2.000

14 FOR_Relevance

5.000

21 INT_Information

1.000

16 INT_Cultural knowledge

4.000

23 INT_Users

1.000

13 FOR_practice/experience

4.000

11 FOR_Education

1.000

18 INT_Coordination

4.000

8 DIF_Integration

0.000

10 EMO_Control

4.000

Table 3 Betweenness of the nodes of the network studied Nodos

Intermediación

Nodos

Intermediación

4 DIF_Cultural understanding

68.357

18 INT_Coordination

23.940

17 INT_Context

57.802

9 DIF_Time

23.200

14 FOR_Relevance

54.488

19 INT_experience

20.433

2 CONTACT

53.102

5 DIF_Lack of training

14.667

20 INT_Diversity management

50.919

12 FOR_Need more training

12.000

1 EMOTIONAL SKILLS

48.050

15 INT_Assistentialism

4.071

10 EMO_Control

44.836

22 INT_Integration

3.400

3 DIF_Public administration

44.533

8 DIF_Integration

1.117

7 DIF_Language

42.210

21 INT_Information

0.000

6 DIF_Lack of resources

40.907

11 FOR_Education

0.000

13 FOR_practice/experience

29.967

23 INT_Users

0.000

16 INT_Cultural knowledge

0.000

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contact with people from different cultural backgrounds, knowing how to manage, considering intervention in the management of diversity, and having emotional competencies are also intermediate nodes in the network. Finally, the results of the closeness analysis (Table 4) of the nodes with respect to the rest of the network are presented. The results show the capacity of each node to access the other nodes. Influencing nodes with a high index of closeness could generate greater and more rapid effects for the adequate professional practice with regard to diversity, since their route to influence the rest of the network is shorter. In this sense, emotional competences, the appropriation of diversity and contextual consideration stand out. Similarly, the difficulties of understanding, language and lack of resources are relevant in the vicinity. The analyses have shown a high coincidence in the degree, betweenness and closeness of some aspects and elements of diversity mentioned and considered by the professionals. Emotional competencies, being a crucial element to take into consideration, are placed in a strategic position of closeness and centrality near the centre of the network and link with the other elements of intervention and difficulties mentioned (Vallejo et al. 2017). The speeches in this regard mention the important role of knowing how to identify emotions, granting them the necessary relevance in the interventions that are developed and being aware of the difficulty in the proper handling of the emotions of situations of diversity. You have to help based on the fact that you consider them equal, that they have the right to maintain their culture and to maintain their own characteristics to which they have to integrate themselves in the structures that we are here, but you have to start from there, if parts of an intervention are from your personal characteristics. I will convert… we are not in the Catholic reconquest, you do not have to convert people to anything, you have to favour

Table 4 Closeness of the nodes of the network studied Nodos

Cercanía

Nodos

Cercanía

1 EMOTIONAL SKILLS

34.375

2 CONTACT

30.986

20 INT_Diversity management

34.375

3 DIF_Public administration

30.137

17 INT_Context

34.375

22 INT_Integration

29.730

4 DIF_Cultural understanding

33.846

19 INT_experience

28.947

10 EMO_Control

32.836

5 DIF_Lack of training

27.848

7 DIF_Language

32.836

15 INT_Assistentialism

27.500

6 DIF_Lack of resources

32.836

12 FOR_Need more training

27.160

9 DIF_Time

32.353

23 INT_Users

25.882

14 FOR_Relevance

31.429

11 FOR_Education

24.176

18 INT_Coordination

31.429

21 INT_Information

23.656

16 INT_ConocCultural knowledge

31.429

8 DIF_Integration

13 FOR_practice/experience

31.429

4.348

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that they integrate in the best way possible, and there are important affective components. (Social Worker, Social Services Community, Huelva Spain) Emotions can help you understand people. It is very important to understand different emotions of people and depending on situations. Emotions can help you in your work, cultural diversity and emotions… and culture and practices are connected with emotions. (Social Worker, Charity Association with Young People, Birmingham, United Kingdom) Knowing that a person is listening to you and understanding, that you are not simply trying to solve problems, can also be a problem, but to see that there is a conscious listening, that it is not simply… the reception, not only attending from a certain point of professional view. (Psychologist, Migrants Association, Padua, Italy) Similarly, the difficulty of understanding is very present in the discourse and is key in the betweenness with other relevant elements for professional intervention, together with the incorporation of context in these interventions (occupying first-level positions in the three analysed indices).

The professionals interviewed reflect these nodes in statements such as the following. Most people think that they have the problem, and it is not that they come from their countries and they are handled in a very different way. The problems that occurred with the second generations in France is what we are beginning to find now, and we will find in the future. We should have already been working on how to integrate this second generation, and it is called the second generation because they are national, so this is the first thing that we need to start working on, which is the acceptance that having a different culture does not mean that you will be of a different nationality. (Social Worker, Spain) Also because of the crisis, it is a crisis of not only the economy but also identity, and it is not then the idea of the others that carries the condition of where it acts; often it is not easy, although it is easy to say that the fault lies with the other. (Social Worker, Italy)

The context is considered important in the intervention that develops relationships with culturally diverse people and groups. The projects that are presented are very oriented or very focused on the type of population and the circumstances that are found in each site and in each province. (Social Worker, Immigrants Association, Huelva, Spain) So, I believe that the increase in interculturality will have a diversity of impacts, some positive and some negative, and to a large extent those results, those impacts, will be determined by the context, the sociopolitical and structural environment. (Sociologist, Birmingham, United Kingdom) It is not always easy to understand because we are also influenced by environmental factors. (Social Worker, Padua, Italy)

The difficulties related to the scarcity of resources and to the language barrier are also very present, which can be seen both in the frequency with which it is mentioned in the discourse and its positioning that indicates greater influence over other nodes through less need for travel (closeness) as not being as important as betweenness nodes. The same occurs in terms of the difficulty of existing time, which is mentioned by different participants.

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Well, the lack of resources, the lack of time. Is that right now… I believe that right now, there is not a look; there is no specific intervention in diversity management. It is impossible, it is impossible… recent years have been disastrous for the issue of management of cultural diversity, first because we have been losing tools… because that is not within the priorities, because it shows in lack of resources, lack of time… in everything. The people who work in the social sector are motivated to work with an excluded population, with an immigrant population, usually yes; what there is a lack of time. (Social Worker, Social Services, HuelvaSpain) The difficulty refers to the funds because it is an aspect in this period that all the funds have been cut, not only to us but to all the organizations of the Third Sector… surely this is the biggest difficulty we find. So many, so many associations not only deal with migrants but also with the social sphere. Unfortunately, even in the same region, it is necessary to find a source of alternative financing, also in the European Union and in small foundations. (Social Worker, Unica Terra, Padua, Italy) The ideal situation above all with foreigners is meeting, listening, being able to understand and doing the right intervention; with the short time we have, there are so many mistakes, that they do not totally depend on the professional. (Mediator, Padua, Italy)

Regarding language, an element that appears on numerous occasions in the discourse (high degree) and that has a high capacity to explain the nature of the network, respondents comment as follows. If in the community social services, we had to have the language of the whole population that we can receive… we would have to have a training… It would be easier for the mediator or translator available to exist at public level; some I do not know if the city council had a translator and main languages and served for the different services… the African part, for example, the language is a problem. (Social Worker, Social Services, Huelva, Spain) Other times, they come with relatives or friends who translate for them, but you have the feeling that they do not translate everything, and you always lose things by insertion path. (Psychologist, Insert Center, Birmingham, United Kingdom) Sometimes, I cannot understand why there are different languages. The best thing sometimes is to use an interpreter, and other times, they can come with friends and they translate. (Social Worker, Association, Birmingham, United Kingdom) Because if you do not have the linguistic competence, it is difficult to communicate; so, the linguistic competence is quite important, of the fundamental things. (Social Worker, Migrant Association, Padua, Italy)

The intervention in diversity management has relevance, especially in relation to the value of closeness that it presents, although it occupies important positions in degree and betweenness. For professionals, this adequate management of diversity is reflected in being aware of the presence of diversity and considering it in an active and influential way in professional interventions. Then, of course, when talking about diversity management, when there are many fires to extinguish, with greater relevance… right? Or to do this with greater social emergency is complicated. That, you have to take it into account, and it is true that maybe it is just that when you go to do the intervention in the case you have the chic…, I have to look at the elements that are affecting management. (Social Worker, Social Services, Huelva, Spain)

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The relevance of having adequate training in this regard is an element present in the three analyses, although with a different degree of importance, especially as an intermediary node of the network. I believe that training can help to understand how to respond to different cultures when encounters take place with them. Basic training is important, and training allows you to try and try things, to engage with other people and to convert into a better practice. (Social Worker, Birmingham, United Kingdom) I think that training is very useful and can help to understand relationships and situations of interaction. I need to learn more about emigration systems. The theory can explain something true to you. Superdiversity is arriving in a practical way, for example. (Social Worker, Asylum Entity, Refugees, Migrants, Birmingham, United Kingdom)

Lastly, we note that contact is an aspect that works as a great mediator, connecting various nodes of the network, especially with training aspects and with the consideration of emotion, thus establishing indirect relationships with a large number of interconnected nodes in the network. The daily contact with them makes you train in a certain way in aspects that you do not realize that you are forming. (Social Worker, Association migrants, Huelva, Spain) In terms of emotions, the contact opportunities are… Being in contact with people from other cultures, for me means that… when you meet people from other cultures, you do not always know… how they understand the world in a basic way. (Social Worker, Assoc. Refuge and Asylum, Birmingham, United Kingdom) The experience certainly helps a lot; the practice of contact with another helps to open up, true. (Psychologist, Migrants Association, Padua, Italy)

The rest of the identified nodes should also be considered, although with a lesser degree of relevance or effects, either direct or indirect, on the entire network and, therefore, a lesser degree in the improvement of intercultural professional social intervention. It is worth mentioning the consideration of elements of the intervention such as coordination, experience, the role of users and knowledge. In addition, the difficulties are broadened by incorporating barriers in integration and in training and the existence of a high bureaucracy or a particular way of proceeding from public administrations. The need for more training and more education and the need to increase practical learning from experience are also factors to consider, which we extracted from professional discourses.

4 Discussion and Conclusions The discourse and network analysis allow us to identify the most relevant nodes and their relationships, both direct and indirect, with the rest of the elements (nodes) of the network. Given the interconnection between the different nodes, a correct understanding of indirect influences is essential for a correct analysis of the centrality of the network, as well as betweenness in the analysis of professionals regarding

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intervention in contexts of cultural diversity and difficulties in their professional practice. The relevance of considering the effective elements in professional intervention has been observed in the results, both because it is a node that frequently occurred in our interviews and because of its degree of closeness in the resulting network. In addition, consideration of the context is crucial for understanding good professional practices in contexts with the presence of cultural diversity. An intervention must be done with good management of diversity. However, good management of diversity faces barriers, both in the understanding of diversity and in different realities faced by professionals, as well as difficulties more attributable to external factors, such as the scarcity of economic and human resources and time. Furthermore, sometimes there are differences in the language of people with whom social work professionals must interact, which hinders professional intervention and the establishment of professional rapport. Thus, training is considered crucial to moving towards a good intercultural professional practice, being able to overcome barriers and to better implement appropriate management of diversity in the interventions that are carried out. Finally, contact with diverse people is an element of betweenness, which can be improved through practice and experience. The development of a high emotional competence, linked to the notion of intercultural sensitivity, can be developed through control and management of emotions. The acceptance of diversity entails the positive assumption of plurality, from models of advanced management and ordering, verified in the construction of diverse contexts and in services that are based on equality and respect for differentiated identity. Intercultural sensitivity is established as a personal element but is inexorably linked to the professional dimension. This sensitivity manifests itself in adequate levels and management of emotional competence, which may favour the creation of a positive professional climate with culturally diverse people. The intervention must be based on an optimal management of the diversities that come into interaction, which entails having elements of cultural knowledge, sufficient training and control and proper management of relationships. All this means being able to work with a goal of overcoming the difficulties of understanding different cultural patterns or visions of reality that differ from one’s own. On the other hand, these interventions must be developed with the consideration and awareness of the influences of the context. Social interventions are framed not only from the direct professional setting that is established within the framework of professional-user interaction but also to include miso and macro-social factors, advocating an intervention that must be systemic and contemplating the multiplicity of influential elements. In this context, our discussions with professionals have revealed difficulties that they find in their daily professional practices. The most relevant are the linguistic barriers and the difficulties inherent in cultural understanding, beyond differences in language. Many professionals claim the need to have more support in this regard, with mediators (or at least translators) available from public services. Currently, these professionals resort to basic resources or the help of other people, mainly from the

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users’ environment. The barriers that can occur, sometimes difficulty understanding situations or the difficulty of the user in understanding the processes, requirements and procedures to follow, undoubtedly influence the success of the interventions. Moreover, the professionals note other difficulties associated with this contextual or structural level that are reflected in the shortage of time and resources. These difficulties, which are also found in most interrelated situations, entail professional unrest due to the impossibility of meeting existing demands or requirements to work without the best available time, resources, and guarantees to develop optimal interventions. The situations derived from the processes of experienced crises have generated a high demand on the social systems, both public and of the Third Sector, without an equal corresponding increase in personnel or resources. In many services, the increase in demand has coincided with the reduction of economic funds or public administrative resources. This scenario places professionals in a position where they need to respond to the demands of users and, at the same time, meet demand of their own on professional performance through adaptation to different contexts and development of an adequate professional rapport that allows good intervention and practice. For these reasons, continuous training is a significant element that must be present in social work institutions and that should be an individual interest to social work professionals. The training allows access to knowledge and information; helps to overcome prejudices, difficulties and obstacles; provides professional tools and skills; and provides a solid foundation for the development of professional practice. Along with this training, direct contact with people with diverse cultural backgrounds can promote understanding, knowledge and intercultural sensitivity. The results and conclusions presented here are part of a broader work and a line of research of the research team, who are aware of the need to deepen the analysis of networks and discourse, as well as the need to advance the understanding of professional intercultural practice from the perspective of multidimensionality. Contributing to the improvement of professional intervention and considering the professionals themselves as active and decisive subjects are crucial for good practice and the development of effective and efficient services in the context of cultural diversity. The transfer of these findings is undoubtedly the challenge that follows the theoretical and analytical work carried out. Acknowledgements The work presented in this paper has been supported by the research group ESEIS, Social Studies and Social Research (SEJ-216) of the University of Huelva.

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The Study of Cycles of Protest: Approaches to the Case of Spain Daniel Gutiérrez-Marín and María Rosa Herrera Gutiérrez

Abstract This chapter studies secondary data (Annuals of the Ministry of the Interior) in order to relate protest events in Spain with those occurring in the rest of the world, using the model applied by Tarrow (Protesta Social. Hacer, Barcelona, 2002) in the case of Italian protests, and Herrera (América Latina Hoy 48:165–189, 2008), in the Argentinian protest. The hypothesis is that the Indignado Movement in Spain is the local expression of a global movement, framed within the Anti-Austerity Movement. On the basis of the concept of the “cycle of protests”, the frequency, intensity, sectoral spread and demands put forward have been analysed to determine the existence of a cycle of protests in Spain, in which the Indignado protest developed. Keywords Cycles of protest · Frequency · Intensity · Indignados · Social movements

1 Introduction Although the concept of cycles of protest (Tarrow 1983) is a useful tool to study the “what” and the “how” of social movements, few empirical studies have been undertaken using this methodology. It can be used to study the frequency and intensity of the protest, identify the players who mobilise society, the target of the protests and the demands made. The cycles of protest describe and explain intense periods of collective contentious action, “where recurrent flow and backflow dynamics can be observed” (Della Porta and Diani 2011). Likewise, the analysis This chapter would not have been possible without the collaboration of Dr. Clemente J. Navarro, director of the Centre for Local Political Sociology and Policies. D. Gutiérrez-Marín (B) · M. R. H. Gutiérrez Centre for Sociology and Local Policies, Pablo de Olavide University, Seville, Spain e-mail: [email protected] M. R. H. Gutiérrez e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_25

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of cycles of protest is especially useful to study political violence, an effect which is closely related to intensity. According to Buerklin (1987), “practically all the time series which describe and explain social and political change show deviations and fluctuations of one type or another” and their results are subtle transformations in political regimes (Herrera 2008). That is exactly what is observed in the Spanish protests between the years 2008 and 2014, when mobilisations saw a gradual upturn after a period of normalisation of protest since the inauguration of the democratic regime (Jiménez 2011). The main causes of this increase in mobilisation were the fruit of the financial and debt crises suffered in the West, to which must be added the wave of democratisation in Middle Eastern countries (Romanos 2016). The explosion of the 15-M Movement as the central player in the indignation movement in Spain is a fundamental landmark in the study of this cycle of protest, reaching its moment of madness (Zolberg 1972) in the camps of 2011. The purpose of this chapter is, firstly, to reflect on the study of cycles of protest as an analytical and methodological tool and also to examine the protests seen in Spain during the period 2008–2014, considering the possibility that they constitute a cycle of protest which forms part of a wider cycle of global mobilisation.

2 Political Conflict and Cyclical Elements1 The contentious episode addressed in this chapter may be classified as a transgressive political conflict (McAdam et al. 2005), insofar as it involves emerging players which demonstrate the capacity to put new issues on the public agenda and use unfamiliar means of pressure. We understand protest as a collective strategy (Gamson 1990; Tarrow 1990) used by different players, with a greater or lesser degree of institutionalisation, against the State (Jenkins and Klandermans 1995) or the elites and which are public, discontinuous, direct and disruptive, to express inconformity with a certain state of affairs, and whose purpose is to influence political decisions (Tarrow 1990; Maturo and Hoskova-Mayerova 2018). When the interactions between these mobilised players and the institutions take on a greater frequency than previously, with episodes of intensification, violent outbreaks in the response, generating new repertoires for protest–frequency, intensity and innovation–it is probable that they will coincide with a significant spread of the use of this political participation strategy (protest) from sectors accustomed to this recourse, including those which are poorly articulated and without prior experience in contentious collective action. All of which appears to favour a kind of

1 This

point is profoundly inspired by the work of Herrera (2008) in which she offers theoretical and analytical arguments regarding the study of cycles of protest and proposes a series of indicators to measure the dimensions of the phenomenon. In her chapter, the case analysed is the cycle of protest in Argentina 1998–2005.

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“solidarity”—at least initially—between the mobilised sectors, whether or not they have a track record of mobilisation. Tarrow states that contentious episodes with these characteristics should be understood as a specific phenomenon which he calls “cycle of protest” (Tarrow 1983). Cycles of protest contain cyclical elements, which have been described by Tarrow (2002), in which: (a) the conflict is exalted, (b) the sectoral and geographical spread of the problem widens, (c) new social movement organisations appear and the old ones are strengthened, (d) new frames of meaning are created and (e) new forms of collective action are generated. These periods display a great wealth in terms of the diversity, intensity, spread and innovation of collective action, and the demands of the different sectors involved have a certain unity. A thread may be traced connecting the many diverse demands of the mobilised sectors, a demand which is common to all those who have taken to the streets, a kind of conceptual coherence which supports the cognitive elements, elaborated within the diverse groups (Tarrow 1983). Thus, within a cycle, a “master frame” is produced (Snow and Benford 1992) under whose umbrella each movement develops a variety of demands and the corresponding discursive elements which: (a) diagnose the situations identified as unfair, (b) identify those responsible for the unfair situations, (c) set out the desired prognosis, and (d) provide justifications for the strategies they have developed. This master frame usually has a significant impact on the citizens, modifying their assignation of meanings, as well as their attitudes and actions, becoming a permanent feature of the political culture (Tarrow 1997). In short, cycles of protest are especially fertile in relation to the politics of societies, but also for the discipline which studies them. Understanding these episodes as historical phenomena with internal consistency—and not as a set of behaviours operating independently, though with certain proximity—provides a rich field: (a) to analyse the relationships between social movements and organisations of social movements, (b) to research the itineraries of those organisations and their leaders, identifying forms of organisation, as well as patterns of action and the promotion and spread of protest, (c) to reflect on the interactions established between movements and elites, and, finally, (d) to allow cycles of protest to be related with cycles of reform (Tarrow 1983). Having set forth the empirical implications of a contentious cycle and the analytical wealth of the concept, we propose to demonstrate that the episodes of confrontation seen in Spain between 2008 and 2014 constitute an episode with features of a cycle, but which also forms part of a process of response on a global scale, whose origin is in the financial and debt crisis which affected Western economies, and the wave of democratisation in the Arabic countries of the Middle East. To perform this study, we have replicated the operationalisation of Herrera (2008), as it is opportune and since we assume that the case studies have similar characteristics.

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3 Methodological Details for the Study of Cycles of Protest and Data As stated previously, the study of cycles of protest requires the examination of a series of dimensions that reveal relevant aspects regarding the development of the transgressive political conflict. Specifically, the dimensions of a cycle of protest are: (a) frequency, (b) intensity, (c) spread, and (d) innovation. Of these categories, this chapter centres on frequency, intensity and sectoral spread. But as well as the dimensions which could bear witness to the emergence of a cycle of protest, we shall also examine the demands that have given rise to the promotion of the contentious events. This latter category allows us to approach a description of the “us” and of what is at stake (Tourine 1981) in the conflict. This descriptive analysis of the dimensions described above allows us, firstly, to determine whether the Spanish protest was passing through a cyclical phase and, secondly, to relate this to other contentious phenomena globally, determining the local character in a transnational mobilisation process (Sergi and Vogiatzoglou 2013).2 The following is a description of each of the analytical categories studied: (a) Frequency: this measures the reiteration of protest events reported by the sources used, and is the number of events produced in a given period of time. (b) Intensity: this dimension refers to the disruptive capacity of the protest action. To measure the intensity of a cycle, Tarrow (2002), uses a classification of protest repertoires: conventional, confrontational or violent. However, depending on the working data in this first stage, we have measured the intensity through the indications of violence seen during the events. Specifically, the intensity indicator was constructed from the number of events with violent acts as a percentage of the total number of protest events (Herrera 2008; Urban and Hoskova-Mayerova 2017). (c) Spread: this dimension measures sectoral spread. The players who promote the mobilisation and who play the role of affected sectors in a situation identified as unfair (Klandermans 2002) were determined. They constitute the “us” of the protest. (d) Demands: this dimension reflects the content of the protest, that is, the cause that is defended or espoused before the authorities as a problem to be addressed (Fig. 1). The data used in this chapter was extracted from the Annuals of the Ministry of the Interior of the Spanish Government, which were elaborated from the data gathered by the different Government Sub-Delegations in each province. It should be noted that this data only provides an approximate view of a general situation and gives superficial evidence. In this regard, it must be declared that the data does not include the number of forbidden protests or those which were not communicated, and so we assume that they have a selection bias. Likewise, the spread and the demands are 2 “Think globally, act locally” is the slogan on which the framework of collective action of the global

justice movement rested. Flesher studied collective identity in the global justice movement.

The Study of Cycles of Protest: Approaches to the Case …

Concept Cycles of protest

Dimension Frequency Intensity Spread Demands

Indicator Nº of events per year Violent events: Total number of violent acts / total number of protest events Type of player / total number of events per year Type of demand / total number of events per year

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Index [0.inf] [0.100] [0.100] [0.100]

Fig. 1 Operationalisation of the cycle of protest. Source The authors and Herrera (2008:172)

limited to the categorisation made by the Ministry itself with a very narrow filter, which produces limited results although they are pertinent for the definition of the cyclical nature of the protest.

4 The Indignados Political Conflict: Cyclical Characteristics 1. Frequency An increase in the number of protest events is the primary indicator of the commencement of a cycle of protest. Although this is simple, accessible data, it allows us to determine whether the protest is spreading or receding. The following conclusions can be drawn from Fig. 2: (a) Commencement of the cycle: if we examine the normalisation of protests between the years 1980 and 2008 (Jiménez 2011), the number of demonstrations was at all times below 15,000 events per year, with a downward tendency

Fig. 2 Evolution of the volume of protests, 2006–2014. Source The authors, from Ministry of the Interior data

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from the year 2000, though with considerable upturns in participation (The year 2004 saw an increase in participation in demonstrations in opposition to Spain’s participation in the Iraq war and in response to the 11 March terrorist attacks in Madrid). It can be seen how, in 2006 and 2007, this low level of mobilisation remained constant. However, it was from 2008, with the first mobilisations in Iceland in response to the debt crisis, that the cycle of protests began in Spain. The upward trend continued until 2013. (b) The moment of madness: thus named by Zolberg (1972), it does not coincide with the moment of greatest frequency, in the second half of 2012. According to data crossed with other references (analysis of data from the press and specialised literature of the “Indignados” mobilisations), it may be concluded that the moment of madness in Spain was June 2011, with the demonstrations called by Democracia Real Ya and the camps of the 15-M Movement. Both groups can be considered the ‘early birds’ of indignation in Spain, spreading the protest to other groups and spheres that were becoming precarious as a result of the cuts imposed in response to the financial and debt crisis. (c) Latency: the demobilisation process began as from the first half of 2013. It is probable that this abandonment of street protests occurred for several reasons: the enactment of the “gag law”,3 which increased state repression of transgressive conflict and generated fear of taking to the streets; likewise, after two years of demonstrations, the effect on the government and public policy were scant. An effect of the first two reasons was to consider the electoral option as a tactic of the social movements (McAdam and Tarrow 2011), that is, to create a political apparatus to stand in the elections and develop a political programme born out of the protests.4 Likewise, through the study of frequency, it is possible to observe that over the same period in which there was an upturn in mobilisations in Spain, other protests erupted in different countries, among which stood out the protests in Iceland (2008), Greece (2010–2012), the Arab Spring (2010–2013), Portugal (2011), Chile (2011), USA (2011), Mexico (2012) and Brazil (2013). In all of these, “new–new” characteristics have been observed (Castells 2013). Martí i Puig and Silva (2014, 11) defined this pattern through: (1) the spread and amplification of the information in real-time by the Internet and social networks; (2) the mobilisation of the citizens through autonomous, horizontal networks that promoted direct action in the urban space, often occupying it against the will of the authorities; (3) the call to democracy as a participatory and deliberative activity; (4) the activation of messages appealing more to common goods than to the services provided by the State or the market; and (5) the rejection of strong personal leadership (Bekesiene and Hoskova-Mayerova 2018). The collective action which occurred under these parameters can be understood as a “connective action” (Subirats 2015), in which the processes are hybridised, crossing the intangible barriers of informal political action and entering into insti3 The

“gag law” refers to Basic Law 4/2015, 30 March, on the Protection of Public Safety.

4 This is reflected in the Charter for Democracy (2014) edited by various mobilisation groups, laying

out their aspirations which are not represented in the institutions.

The Study of Cycles of Protest: Approaches to the Case … YEAR EVENTS VIOLENCE CONFRONTATION TOTAL INTENSITY* INJURED ARRESTS

2006 4066 16 253 269 6.61 3 7

2007 4527 3 101 104 2.29 0 0

2008 8760 16 154 170 1.94 0 8

2009 18568 34 273 307 1.65 10 19

2010 21941 45 286 331 1.5 0 24

339 2011 21297 46 314 360 1.69 7 1

2012 44233 2 7 9 0.02 1 0

2013 43170 117 441 558 1.29 8 14

2014 36679 19 197 216 0.58 3 5

*Intensity = (Total / Events) x 100 Fig. 3 Indications of the intensity of the cycle of protest. Source The authors, from the data of the Ministry of the Interior and Herrera (2008)

tutional political action. We can thus state that there exists a global framework for collective action. 2. Intensity Our measurement of intensity used the same process as Herrera (2008), based on Tarrow’s Italian case study. The work used the same arguments and approaches with the intention of replicating them in the Spanish case (Fig. 3). The analysis of the indications of intensity shows that, as the frequency of the protests increases, the intensity of the conflict is reduced. It is especially striking that the year of greatest mobilisation, 2012, was the moment at which the intensity was closest to zero. Likewise, an upturn can be observed in 2011, just when the moment of madness took place. As can be seen from Fig. 4, frequency takes over from intensity, with the year 2011 and its moment of madness standing out, with a slight upturn in intensity and a stagnation in the frequency. This is due to the fact that in the first days of the camps in May 2011, episodes of violence occurred in many of the enclaves in which the demonstrators crowded into the squares of their municipalities. Just afterwards, as pointed out by Tarrow, the frequency rose sharply and the intensity fell to a minimum, demonstrating the results of the cooperation/competition dynamic typical of cycles of protest. More specifically, at those moments in which most players “took to the streets” to protest, the media reported the events due to the magnitude that the phenomenon was acquiring. However, as some players resolved their demands, those who “stayed on the street” had to use “noisier” tactics to maintain media and public attention. Another element to be considered in order to understand the dynamics of the intensity of the cycle is the relationship between the protest and police repression. Brockett argues that if police repression is used as a strategy of dissuasion in the moments of the explosion or in the ascendant phase of the cycle, this produces a multiplier effect on the levels of mobilisation (Brockett 2002). Indiscriminate repressive action ceases to be dissuasive and begins to stimulate popular support for the mobilised sectors when it is used during the peak of the cycle, that is, at the moment of madness. As indicated by Tarrow in the Italian case study, as the frequency increases,

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Fig. 4 Evolution of the intensity and frequency. Source The authors, from the data of the Ministry of the Interior

protesters resort to more conventional forms of action, which implies less confrontation with authority. That is, once the moment of madness and the violence that may be associated with it has passed, frequency and intensity are inversely proportional. 3. Sectoral spread. The players in the protest: emergence and transformation McAdam (2002) notes the relationships established by “initiating movements” and the “derivatives” in mobilisation processes. There is a certain logic for the mobilising initiative to originate from players which are more institutionalised or predisposed to dispute (Kriesi 1999), who make up the group of social movement organisations. These are the organisations which have tended towards institutionalisation and commercialisation, as pointed out by Kriesi. However, the study of the sectoral spread of the protest in this cycle is not of those players who might have been expected, but of self-organising citizens. As can be seen from Fig. 5, from the beginning of the cycle of protest, the associations took the leading role in the protest up to 2011, when they were relieved by the traditional trade unions. Also in a prominent, though secondary, position were the company committees, bodies involved in the negotiation of labour rights and closely related to the trade unions. This situation makes sense, especially as from 2012, when the labour reform which affected the social rights of the workers came into force. Despite the leading role of the trade unions from the end of 2011 onwards, the upward trend of citizens’ associations tells us, firstly, of the awakening of the citizens as a collective player and, secondly, as from 2013, how the activity of citizens’ associations was to be transformed into a contained conflict (McAdam et al. 2005) through established groups which, on diverse fronts, were to interact with the institutions without a high degree of mobilisation. 4. Demands The demands of the cycles of protest, in the words of Tourine (1981), configure what is at stake, that is, the motivations that push citizens to take to the streets to fight for what is just. The demands bring meaning and coherence to those who decide to act against what they consider to be an injustice. The study of the demands determines, on the one hand, the development of the discursive framework of the cycle of protests

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Fig. 5 Evolution of sectoral spread. Source The authors, from the data of the Ministry of the Interior

Fig. 6 Evolution of the demands. Source The authors, from the data of the Ministry of the Interior

(Hunt et al. 1994) and, on the other, it clarifies which are the concerns of the citizens at a given moment (Fig. 6). It can be seen that the main concern of the Spanish people, within the cycle of protest, were labour issues. This was related to a certain extent to increasing unemployment, the frustration of the professional expectations of young university graduates and the constant cuts to labour rights. The increase in demands against political and legislative measures was particularly notable as from 2011, which was precisely the moment of madness and when the citizens’ associations became stronger than the trade unions. Lastly, nationalist and ecological issues, which currently occupy fourth and third places among motivations, respectively, had a prominent position. This influenced the appearance of political parties which promote options that represent these demands.

5 Conclusions Despite the limitations of this chapter, the gains made through the study of the cycles of protest are significant to the study of the political conflict, its players and its discourse. Likewise, the operationalisation of the concept of the cycle of protests offers interesting resources for working with and on the cycles, although perhaps the relationships established between the different dimensions could be improved.

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The descriptive results given seem to demonstrate that the period studied shows characteristics of a cycle of protest that opens up within a wave of mobilisations that is related to the protests in other countries or regions, such as Iceland, North Africa, Greece, Portugal, Mexico or the USA. It will be necessary to further study the causes in order to bring them all together under a single discursive framework, and thereby bring meaning to the global mobilisation. With respect to the case study, it has been shown that the moment of madness took place after the cycle had already commenced. It would be pertinent to study the causes of this and to ascertain why the period of greatest frequency of mobilisation occurred in 2012. Likewise, the process of demobilisation appears to coincide with the appearance of more institutionalised players whose purpose was to take up the electoral option as a tactic of the social movements. Furthermore, the indications of intensity require more rigourous and deeper study of this phenomenon, since there is a relationship of variance between both dimensions, which in turn determines the sectoral spread between the players who lead the protest and determine the list of demands. Therefore, it appears to have been demonstrated that indignation constitutes a cycle of protests in its own right within the Spanish protest, which should be treated and studied in particular through its own dimensions, and its effect on the development of politics and society in Spain must be determined. New lines of research which must be addressed are also opening up, such as the study of the mechanisms that determine the causes of this cycle of mobilisation and how they influence the development of the protest in different contexts.

References Bekesiene, S., Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Decision tree-based classification model for identification of effective leadership indicators in the lithuania army forces. J. Math. Fund. Sci. 50(2), 121–141 (2018) Brockett, C.: Una resolución de la paradoja represión-protesta popular mediante la noción de ciclo de protesta. In: Traugott, M. (ed.) Protesta Social, pp. 131–161. Hacer, Barcelona (2002) Buerklin, W.P.: Why study political cycles: an introduction. Eur. J. Politi. Res. 15, 131–143 (1987) Castells, M.: Manuel Castells on new new social movements. Available online at http:// thecrankysociologists.com/2013/03/25/manuel-castells-on-new-new-social-movements (2013) Della Porta, D., Diani, M.: Movimientos Sociales. CIS, Madrid (2011) Gamson, W.: The Strategy of Social Protest. Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont, California (1990) Herrera, M.R.: La contienda política en Argentina 1997-2002: un ciclo de protesta. América Latina Hoy 48, 165–189 (2008) Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Maturo, A.: Decision-making process using hyperstructures and fuzzy structures in social sciences. In: Collan, M., Kacprzyk, J. (eds.) Soft Computing Applications for Group Decision-making and Consensus Modeling. Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing, vol. 357. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60207-3_7 (2018) Hunt, S., Benford, R., Snow, D.: Marcos de acción colectiva y campos de identidad en la construcción social de los movimientos. In: Laraña, E., Gusfield, J. (eds.) Los Nuevos Movimientos Sociales. De la ideología a la identidad. CIS, Madrid (1994)

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Jenkins, J.C., Klandermans, B.: The politics of social protest. In: Jenkins, J.C., Klandermans, B. (eds.) The Politics of Social Protest. Comparatives on States and Social Movements. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (1995) Jiménez, M.: La Normalización de la Protesta: el Caso de las Manifestaciones en España (19802008). CIS, Madrid (2011) Klandermans, B.: How group identification helps to overcome the dilemma of collective action. Am. Behav. Sci. 45(5), 887–900 (2002) Kriesi, H.P.: La estructura organizacional de los nuevos movimientos sociales en su contexto político. In: McAdam, D., McCarthy, J., Zald, M. (eds.) Movimientos Sociales. Perspectivas comparadas. Istmo, Madrid (1999) Martí i Puig, S., Silva, E.:Introducción: movilización y protesta en el mundo global e interconectado. Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals 105, 7–18 (2014) McAdam, D.: Movimientos ‘iniciadores’ y ‘derivados’: procesos de difusión en los ciclos de protesta. In: Traugott, M. (ed.) Protesta Social. Hacer, Barcelona (2002) McAdam, D., Tarrow, S., Tilly, C.: Dinámica de la Contienda Política. Hacer, Barcelona (2005) McAdam, D., Tarrow, S.: Movimientos sociales, elecciones y política contenciosa: construyendo puentes conceptuales. In: Funes, M.J. (ed.) A propósito de Tilly. CIS, Madrid (2011) Romanos, E.: De Tahrir a Wall Street por la Puerta del Sol: la difusión transnacional de los movimientos sociales en perspectiva comparada. Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas 154, 103–118 (2016) Sergi, V., Vogiatzoglou, M.: Think globally, act locally? Symbolic memory and global repertoires in Tunisian uprising and Greek anti-austerity mobilizations. In: Flesher, C., Cox, L. (eds.) Understanding European Movements. New social movements, global justice struggles, anti-auterity protest. Routledge, London (2013) Snow, D.A., Benford, R.: Master frames and cycle of protest. In: Morris, A., McClurg Mueller, C. (eds.) Frontiers in Social Movement Theory, pp. 133–155. Yale University Press, New Haven (1992) Subirats, J.: Todo se mueve. Acción colectiva, acción conectiva. Movimientos, partidos e instituciones. Revista Española de Sociología 24, 123–131 (2015) Tarrow, S.: Struggling to Reform: Social Movements and Policy Change During Cycles of Protest. Western Societies Program Center for International Studies Cornell University, Ithaca (1983) Tarrow, S.: Democrazia e Disordine: Movimenti di Protesta Politica in Italia: 1965-1975. Laterza, Bari (1990) Tarrow, S.: El Poder en Movimiento: Los Nuevos Movimientos Sociales, la Acción Colectiva y la Política. Alianza Universidad, Madrid (1997) Tarrow, S.: Ciclos de acción colectiva: entre los momentos de locura y el repertorio de contestación. In: Traugott, M. (ed.) Protesta Social. Hacer, Barcelona (2002) Tourine, A.: The Voice and the Eye. An Analysis of Social Movements. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1981) Urban, R., Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Threat life cycle and its dynamics. Deturope 9(2), 93–109 (2017) Zolberg, A.R.: Moments of madness. Politi. Soc. 2, 183–207 (1972)

Life Stories of Elders and Their Significant Objects Ana Felisbela de Albuquerque Piedade

Abstract The aim of this paper is to show how social memory is built over a long period of time and particularly how old people’s memory and identity are based on significant objects. The paper attempts to delineate old people’s self-perceptions about themselves—of their identity and finally, what it means to be old. In order to do so, some life narratives from a group of old people—men and women—were collected and transformed into life stories. Life stories allow one to understand how memories are built over time, while daily life is lived. Social memory is a concept used to explore the tie between social identity and historical memory—in what family origins, territorial belonging, rituals, beliefs and conducts are concerned. If the materials that support memory are destroyed the paths of “consequent souvenir”—understood as the passage of memories to others—become blocked and one loses the way. In order to remember, memory needs stakeholders as well as places, objects and structures (family and/or communities) it can rely on if it is to make sense. Keywords Memory · Identity · Social memory · Elders · Objects The aim of this paper is to show how social memory is built over a long period of time and particularly how old people’s memory and identity are based on significant objects. The paper attempts to delineate old people’s self-perceptions concerning their identity and finally what it means to be old. In order to do so, some life narratives from a group of old people—men and women—were collected and transformed into life stories. Two groups of old people/informants can be identified: those who have always lived in Portugal and did not have to leave objects behind before going to a rest home and those who have lived in Portuguese colonial territories (Goa, Mozambique and Angola) and were caught by the decolonization process and subsequently lost part of or all their belongings. In what the first group is concerned the life stories of five A. F. de Albuquerque Piedade (B) Department of Education, Social Sciences and Behavioral Sciences, CRIA; Lab-At/IPBeja, Instituto Politécnico de Beja (IPBeja), Beja, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_26

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informants will be considered: three women and two men. Concerning the second group, the life stories of four people (one couple returned from Goa/Mozambique and one couple from Angola) will be taken into consideration. In both groups objects anchor and evoke feelings and memories. Thus, the act of remembering is undistinguishable from the object or, at least, facilitated by it. Even when the object is not present, the simple fact of being remembered is a starting point to activate the memory process. Objects such as cards, postcards, photos, memorabilia, jewelry or house objects as well as mementos bought during a trip or offered in special circumstances or a gift from someone special will be the basis to bring personal memories to mind. These objects have different meanings to each person and they are connected to key actions in their lives.

1 Life Stories, Social Memory and Cultural Representations Life stories allow one to understand how memories are built over time while daily life is lived. Social memory is a concept used to explore the tie between social identity and historical memory—in what family origins, territorial belonging, rituals, beliefs and conducts are concerned. It implies asking how and why a group of people come to think about themselves as members of a community or a Diasporic movement with a shared past. Thinking about identity is also to think about social memory and the social constructs of memory, as well as about those whose memories have been reproduced over time. The elders of any community are the guardians of memories and identities; despite that, it is a dynamic process that implies changes. As a last recourse it is all about people in search for common memories to assemble present needs (Crumley 2002). Objects, being significant and symbolic items of personal and group moments, incorporate that character. During each recollection process of life stories the researcher attends to the evocation of memories by using different materials: textbooks and games (indoor and outdoor); training manuals for trainers (teaching); stories, legends, songs, letters, diaries and journals, photographs, postcards, drawings, prints and paintings, etc. Equally important was the effect exerted by intangible aspects such as the evocation of nursery rhymes, riddles, poems and folk tales, Carnival plots, etc. but that will not be object of analysis at the moment. The story of life as a process is an activity of synthesis that appropriates the social structures, internalizing and externalizing them, that is, reproducing them. These structures make up the social framework of memory and depend on social choices. They are influenced by the social structure of the subject, translating an ideological unity, values and perspectives (Poirer et al. 1995). In this sense, life stories allow for the connection between the world of experience and of values and the world of global society structures (Lavado 2004, 2009; Urban and Hoskova-Mayerova 2017). Life stories and memories identify and comprehend details which are vital to understanding the differences between individuals and groups, concerning how

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to internalize and recall facts and phenomena. Differentiated collective memories can therefore be produced within a society with a common social memory (Godinho 2001). Such an overview, however, can only be achieved once the corpus of information, i.e., the number of life stories, is broad enough to show repetitions in the facts narrated by the informants, that is, from the moment on when there is a saturation of information. Life stories are constructed from narratives of life. So, they are constructions that the researcher makes with the materials that are narrated by the informants in the context of an interview and/or casual conversation. The research we have carried out regarding the elderly and their significant objects was based on about thirty life stories, however just a small part of these data was taken into consideration for the present paper. Analyzing the data allowed us to establish a pattern concerning the relationship between the two identified groups with the objects and with the need of leaving objects behind. The recognition and validation of the knowledge of informants has been a very positive reinforcement in the act of communication, which resulted in a feeling of empowerment for the informants and a greater willingness for the recollection (Hoskova-Mayerova 2014). Lives and secrets were visited as if they were part of the present time. In fact, older people visit parts of their memory and the memory of their elders, leading the researcher on a trip between times, so much richer as the more numerous are the memories. Remembering, returning, reviving, recreating, memories of the past is giving them life, the power of remembrance but also the power of word and of gesture. It is very important to recall, recognize and understand yourself by reliving your development process and being able to point out the permanence and the changes, perpetuating the memories recreated that they bequeath to young people. Informants look back to the past of their present lives and understand circumstances they had not absorbed before: “when we were young, we were also like this”; “they told me that when I grew up”. Remembering becomes both an individual and a social act. The changes that take place in what social memory is concerned occur over time and from one generation to the next. As Crumley (2002) says, individuals and groups may not be necessarily aware that they are passing on their behaviors and attitudes to others in various contexts but especially through emotional and practical ties and in relationships between generations. The memory-worlds of first, second and third generation migrant communities allow them to forge family identities. Assumptions concerning the memories told beyond the family sphere by photographs, films and stories about their experiences reveal particularly tight topographies of memory (Fortier 2000). As Hetherington (1998) mentions, expressive identities can be analyzed through issues of performance. Spaces of identity and ‘the occasion’ (the significance of identity) are at once local, plural, situated and complex. So, as Kubináková (2010:29) says, the concept of identity concerns several “representations that are created within an individual’s own self-perception in regard to rules performed (by virtue of social status and position, gender, etc.), to one’s inclusion or exclusion in the social contexts (culture, nation, religion), and in regard to the way other people apprehend one’s behavior and interpret and define who and what one is”. Group memory is forged in a sometimes dubious and complex sequence of remembering and forgetting. “It is necessary to forget in order to be present; to forget to deceive

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death; to forget in order to remain faithful” (Augé 2001:106) Family memories emerge from their structure, belonging, group, the space they take up in the network of social relations, the primary form of enculturation, of foods eaten, clothes worn, the frequent absence of shoes, the smells of their land on feast days, the feel of the water in a forbidden bath, the taste of a “chinchada” in a well-guarded plot of land (Lavado 2004, 2009). In addition to the individual life stories, group life stories were also collected. The goal, when using this technique, was to capture what Godinho (2001) describes as the use of shared subjectivities, within the family. There is no doubt that brothers and sisters, aunts and nephews, friends, husband and wife share the information, correcting each other in some details and together recall situations that are present for some of them and almost forgotten by others. Thus, the data are much more substantive, acquired and reliable (Le Grand 1988). By conjuring up the memory of psychological and physical pain that some episodes of life causes when the stories are told and repeated in the family context, younger ones learn and internalize that transgression, being a conscious act, generate consequences accepted by the protagonists of action. So listening to life stories and repeating them, even when they are mythified, is a way of being a part of a community and of course, of a family. By giving a voice to the memories and a memory—the voice of the stories told—to the cultures and minority groups, one recognizes the value of these “cultures of speech and orality”, even if one is part of a society dominated by writing. For many old people in Mediterranean European contexts it is quite important to be empowered and valued by their achievements, even if they are illiterate—we might even say, especially when they are illiterate. Many of the informants mentioned in the present paper belong to the group of illiterate (or almost illiterate people). Retrieving the stories told to make the story, one has to accept the challenge to introduce the thrill, the fears and fantasies that the metaphor of memory encloses. At the same time, one accepts the obstacles that necessarily are imposed on generalizations. We must understanding each statement as a construction of consciousness and memory, as well as emphasize the variety of experiences in social groups (Billig and Edwards 1994; Bomat 1989). We must also assume that each and every life story is modeled by a common culture. So the researcher puts himself at the crossroads among the heterogeneity of the subject as an individual and the homogeneity of the subject as another individual. This constitutes a serious challenge to rigid categorizations between public and private, between memory and reality (Samuel and Thompson 1990; Thompson 1978, 1981; Augé 2001; Bertaux 1981). The simultaneous evocation of the narrative mode of life presents the advantage of instantly cross-referencing information and quicly makes the investigator aware of the saturation of the data (Lavado 2004, 2008; Piedade 2013). The memories—because memory and tradition are constantly being recycled and recast in order to give sense to the past and to project the present and the future—bring the researcher closer to the “mythical” transmission and construction. Mismatches can be observed as well as omissions and reinterpretations of the actions and facts and the character of individuals in the context of individual and collective memory. Life stories should not be considered as an amalgam of fragments, but events with a form in which

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some incidents are dramatized and other contextualized and still others silenced in the process of shaping the narrative. That narrative is shaped by conscious and unconscious facts—myth and reality—each playing a significant role (Lavado 2004; Piedade 2013). There can be no doubt that memory is a main cause in the creation and reproduction of identities (Bosi 1994). People make places and choose places, past events and stories that help them construct their personal memory. This is quite important to understand how memory and a range of forms of ratifying memory come out as a moral issue through which one discuss the experience of Diaspora, for example, but also the loyalty to a(n) (imagined) community of belonging. Portugal as a country and a national concept, is today a place where identity is forged by many people from different places of Portuguese territory or from former colonial possessions. The cultural background conditions the games and plays, bodies, tastes, food and objects. All forms of identity are imagined, invented and represented and the nations are not natural and eternal souls but contingent, greasy and nebulous constructs, always in a process of redefinition. Building up our own identity can be a choice—a conscientious choice. Shaping lives and social memories is a contribution to constructing real and imaginary ancestors, spaces, times, smells, tastes and symbols. When it happens, it becomes natural and desirable.

2 About Identities Jenkins (2008:5) considers that,“In order to begin thinking about this issue, we must decide what we mean by ‘identity’”. Following Ashton, he believes that “in a very basic starting point, identity is the human capacity – rooted in language – to know ‘who’s who’ (and hence ‘what’s what’). This involves knowing who we are, knowing who others are, them knowing who we are, us knowing who they think we are, and so on: a multi-dimensional classification or mapping of the human world and our places in it, as individuals and as members of collectivities” (Ashton et al. 2004). So, “who we are, or who we are seen to be, can matter enormously (…) Although identification always involves individuals, something else – collectivity and history – may also be at stake”. (Jenkins 2008:3) Santos (1997) considers that cultural identities are not dead realities, but dynamic ones, defined as transient phases of (personal and cultural) identification. There are not static cultural identities, not even those that appear to be permanent. Following Gurvitch (1974), he refers us back the feeling of time going by and to a long time line of change. An indeed gradual or fast transformation in their fundamental contents depends on contexts and life strategies. We all have multiple identities, and there is no reason why these should not be complementary (Grillo 2003). Questions of ‘tradition’ and ‘authenticity’ are irrelevant, excluding the speech-making that happens around culture as a place of struggle, or simply as ‘invention’ (Hobsbawm and Ranger 1983). According to Bhabha, culture is ‘an inactive, enunciatory site’ (Bhabha 1994:178) “and all cultures, culture bearers, and cultural agents are constantly engaged in cre-

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olization. The emphasis is on multiple identities or identifications whose form and content are continuously being negotiated” (Grillo 2003:160). Often, identity appears as a firm structure rooted back in an imagined mythical and undated time. All of us, as well as societies, have composed and multiple identities that allow us to find our place in time, in order to face the present and the future. It implies a double tension “between the individual and the communitarian and between its concrete reality in time and space, and its universal concept extending beyond time and space” (Souza 2000:487). As he understands it, the identity of any community is mostly made up of its culturally distinctive items, together with the territorial characteristics of the land of one’s ancestors. Objects are frequently the translation of exiles, diaspora or “golden eras” of one life. Some of the informants, whose life stories are here analyzed, are people from the diaspora and/or returned people from former colonial territories of Portugal. The objects they own and consider as fundamental in their lives are African sculptures or ivory pieces. Some of them, who arrived in Portugal “with just the clothes on their backs”, wanted to have some objects they had lost during the decolonization process and, as soon as it was possible, bought some of these items. Individuals draw their identity through social and cultural performance, thus their identity is not an unchanging essence. Myths, rituals and performances go across tradition and change in communities and societies; hence they change with these realities, especially over a long time, and more often than not, in a very concealed form. Suddenly, what was is not how it used to be—something has changed and one can not exactly tell how, when or precisely what. Change has arrived and stays for some time, until the next visible one. One may consider the Portuguese culture as a frontier-culture (Souza 2000), with some contour but with no unambiguous contents. Therefore, the Portuguese culture is not very distinct from other national cultures, but it has always preserved a wellbuilt internal heterogeneity. Vast territories have been lost but people have crossed boundaries and continents leading to a Portuguese cosmopolitanism forged in a multiplicity of local cultures. So, Portuguese culture moved back and forth between the local and the trans local and that makes up the singularity and multiplicity of the “Portuguese national culture”. According to Eriksen (2001), while ethnic identity concerns a concept of shared ancestry, culture refers to shared representations, norms and practices. Because of this, despite having deep ethnic differences, one must not have important cultural differences. On the other hand, the existence of cultural variation is possible without ethnic borders (for instance concerning social status). So, the inner discrepancy within a group is much larger than it would be expected. However, there is a consensus that, in order to be considered a nation, it must be linked with a state, no matter if they are supported by a shared ethnic identity or not.

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3 Memories, Objects and Identities The two couples we will talk about are Maria and Zeferino and Ilda and Francisco.1 Maria and Zeferino were born respectively in Mozambique and in Goa. They came to Portugal during the decolonization process, in 1975. Ilda and Francisco were born in Portugal, went to Angola and stayed there for almost fifty years—they got married in Angola and their three children were born there. They came back to Portugal in the first months of 1976 “with nothing in their hands”. As they said, they had nothing in Portugal because they went to Angola when they were children and their parents “were poor people and had lots of brothers and sisters. So, the grandparent’s land, divided by all the children would not give a napkin to each one of them!” Once resettled in Portugal they had nothing “but the clothes on our bodies and the wedding rings on our fingers and some family photographs we managed to bring in an old bag Ilda never left.” To Maria, whose family remained in Mozambique and became part of the rulling elite, the loss was not so intense. Zeferino, however, felt that loss as a second one—his family had been forced to leave Goa without anything when the territory was annexed by the state of India in 1961. At that time, his family “only saved memories, some pictures and some utilitarian objects to face the daily life. All the rest remained there, at home (Goa).” To Maria and Zeferino, renting a house is not having a home. Having a home means owning it and transforming it in such a way that their multiple identities can be felt and expressed—in their home, the walls are painted with strong blues, reds and dark yellows. Some paintings by the Mozambican painter Malagatana ‘live’ on their walls; the perfume of their home is a mix of spices, incense and herbs from south the of Portugal. On their table there is always wine, olives, bread, cheese, ham and cashew. Their home, as an extension of them, is an intercultural place. Their objects are objects of memory. They “seem to be particularly accurate with regard to domestic materiality, since all migrant families were using things at home to order and relate to the inside and the outside worlds. (…) home and home-making as a social and cultural process can work as a significant site within which to explore its relation at the level of everyday practices, therefore contributing to clarify the diversity of expectations, investments and adjustments that all migration experiences entail.” (Rosales 2011:509) Ilda and Francisco “were not very young” when they were resettled in Portugal (she was 48 years old and he was 53 years old). They went to their siblings homes, “jumping from one sibling to another for almost three years, always near Lisbon.” With their help, they managed to buy and flip an old house in a peripheral region of Lisbon. To them a house is just a thing they never wanted to be attached to, because: “with things, you never know… people, yes… people matters, not houses, not things.” Maybe this perspective made them face the change from their house to a rest home with a relaxed attitude. As they say: “we came here to Portugal with our wedding rings, we came to the rest house with them and together – that’s the really important thing. Now we have our books, our sacred images, our photos, our plants - they sometimes die but the kids get us new ones – and our music. That’s 1 All

the names are fictional in order to preserve the identity of the informants.

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all we need. We are OK.” Suddenly Francisco says: “I miss my house in Angola! My things… the car (a good car), the farm, the ivory figures I thought could be a valuable commodity… that, I miss… and the shotguns… Ilda, do you remember the gems I bought you and our girl? Bastards! They got it all…so much work for so many years! Whatever, it’s just things… we all got out alive and healthy.” Shaping lives and social memories is a contribution to constructing real and imaginary ancestors, spaces, times, smells, tastes and symbols. When it happens it becomes natural and desirable. For Cohen, there is no single, homogeneous or national culture but several diverse cultures, often founded on a sense of locality or ‘belonging’ (Cohen 1994) and also reflected on the objects in the home. The internal structure of the house is interpreted as a symbolic entity that reproduces the collective order it incorporates, thus contributing to its cosmological representation (Rosales 2011). Memory allows Zeferino and Maria to build up a life narrative forged in an identity they keep private (being Goan and Mozambican), shared with their family. It is no secret. It is not more important than being Portuguese, just something natural within their family, those who are able to reinforce and ritualize their heritage. As Hall wrote, “Identity, in this sociological conception, bridges the gap between the “inside” and the “outside” between the personal and the public worlds. The fact that we project “ourselves” into these cultural identities, at the same time internalizing their meanings and values, making them “part of us,” helps to align our subjective feelings with the objective places we occupy in the social and cultural world” (Hall and du Gay 1996:597–598). To Zeferino and Maria, home is the place where past, present and future come together. It is a place of memories and identity as well as a place of dreams and projects. The presence of material objects is filled with the memories they envoke, building up communities and mythicized events. As Rosales (2011) says, “The first, and probably most significant, common denominator found in the discourses of the families about their past and present homes is their portrait as complex social and cultural sites. In fact, all testimonies are wide ranging and multifaceted, making reference to locations, people, relationships, feelings, scales, memories and, specially, to positioning strategies and policies of belonging. (…) Home and its objects seem to assume a pivotal position due to their ability to assemble, materialize and express far reaching topics and concerns directly resulting from movement and displacement” (Rosales 2011:514, 522). Zeferino and Maria’s home has colors and objects that remind them of Goa and Mozambique. Some of their paintings (painted by Mozambican artists), cloths, porcelains and furniture are objects of memory. Ilda and Francisco’s home had just a few objects: mainly books, records (that evoke parties) of African and classical music and some precious African-looking wood and ivory figures—a “way of remembering our other life”. This emotional attachment of people to their objects has been often noted in different contexts (Fox and King 2002; Rosales 2011). At Maria’s house even the walls have the colors of Goan and Mozambican sea and sky and of Goan spices. Their intimate space—their home—is organized in a way that represents their emotions towards the places of birth; towards a reality they imagine through their memories. In this reconfigured culture of the diaspora, familiar shapes between “here” and “there,” become vague. For some people of the diaspora or returned to Portugal, the familiar and ancestral places left

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behind, govern the nature of their relationship to a place that has visibly changed, and the chimera of an essential tie between the territory and the wrecked culture. Hence, it turns out to be evidence of how imagined communities (Anderson 1991) come to be emotionally caught up with imagined places. Relocated people often remember or imagine communities, home lands and places, in a world that seems more and more to contradict that. Gupta and Ferguson (1992) consider that the set of questions around the mental construction of place and homeland for relocated people and groups who have felt the consequences of the diaspora are well documented in anthropological studies. According to them, remembered or (re)invented places have frequently served as symbolic community anchors for those who are relocated. Therefore, the Diaspora’s sons and daughters may use their memory of the place to imaginatively create their new lived world. It is almost as if they saw themselves as people who crossed “in-between” spaces that provide the terrain for elaborating strategies—singular or communal of selfhood. So, new signs of identity emerge (Bhabha, 1994). For those informants who never left Portugal (considered until 1974 as the “metropolis”), objects may also evoke a golden era of their lifes. The discourse of the informants pushes the researcher towards object classification. In fact, from their relationship with objects, several categories emerge, as follows: objects of the past; objects of the present; voyage objects; exile objects; diaspora objects; transgression objects; cursed objects; lost and find objects; self-made objects; amulet objects and important “non-objects”. Food—especially ritual food—is seen as an important “non-object” in the sense that it exists but shall be consumed, disappearing in the act of consumption. As we will see, food is quite important in order to return to a very present past. The objects of the past are those identified by Maria, Zeferino, Ilda, Francisco, André, Pedro, Rosa, Antónia and Vicencia as the objects of their memory—the objects of their past life. The photos where they appear as young adults or children are in this category as well as their toys, and some clothes. The objects of the present are those they still possess, so the objects of the present can be mixed with the objects of the past. For André, for instance, his tools are at the same time, objects from the past (regarding his professional activity) but also objects of the present because he still uses them as a hobby. For Ilda and Francisco the objects they own are all objects of the present. However these objects reclaim the memory of the past. For Rosa, her books are the objects of the present because she has only been allowed to bring books and clothes with her to the rest home. For Antónia the dolls she collected for more than sixty years are at the same time objects of the present and of the past. In addition, one of her dolls (the one she never gives up) is an amulet—bad news came to her when she did not have the doll with, her but everything was all right when that doll was with her. Some of the dearest objects are the ones from exile, as Pedro mentions. For him, his diary is also an object of transgression as it holds his political opinions during the time of the dictatorship in Portugal.

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4 Memory as a Social Phenomenon As a phenomenon, social memory points to a complex association between personified memories, history, space, and time. This supports the idea that a cultural identity is made up of numerous facts in different contexts. Hence, social memory offers a standpoint on which recognized personal identities and even history are challenged whether they are (re)invented, rejected or accepted (Hobsbawm and Ranger 1983, 1990). So, recollection and objects that allow it, form a non-time and a non-place Banks (1996) calls it a taxonomic space: “(…) there is interplay between self-identification and external classification (…) this process takes place within a ‘taxonomic space’ which is not neutral (…). (Banks 1996) “The idea of a ‘taxonomic space’ (…) highlights the fact that classifications (by the self or the other) are linked to other classifications and that none of these takes place in a vacuum” (Brass 1991:130). The self-identification is provided by material supports that help memory and allow one to recall and show others they were young, once. Personal experience and the discourse of a specific group of individuals are attached in local practices, incidentally influencing and being influenced by this performance. Social practices allow one to ratify one’s memories by mingling elements from history and memory, as a form of communication between the past, present and future. In what Zeferino and Maria’s family is concerned, this idea is quite present. In fact, calendar rituals (specially Christmas) are moments used to order some chaotic and unsure realities and experiences—memories which belong to their ancestors, rather than to them, their own in particularly with reference to their sons. During these processes of arranging reality by creating a consistent social memory, certain moral codes and representations emerge, such as what it means to be Goan. Christmas is intensely lived by this family (extended family) and they mix Portuguese, Mozambican and Goan traditions. They all have dinner together and then they go to the Midnight Mass. Zeferino and Maria always have a Christmas tree and a Nativity Scene; they always eat turkey, codfish and ‘leitão’2 as well as ‘babinca’, ‘sarapatel’, ‘chocuti’, ‘chamuças’, sweet rice and English cake. The night before Christmas day last until the morning. Such practices have been studied by Marcus Banks (1996), concerning migrants: “Recent migrants especially tend to reify and objectify their cultural experience and to look to the ‘preservation’ of cultural artifacts such as specific items of food or clothing. But the reified artifacts are not ‘culture’ for the anthropologist; rather the process of concretization is a cultural process” (Banks 1996:80). As it was observed by Rosales (2010), regardless of who the guests are, a festive meal always includes Goan food.3 Francisco and Ilda, despite being in the rest house, of their own choice, go home for the holidays—summer time, Christmas, Easter. But this home is their children’s houses where all of them get together, cook traditional Portuguese dishes and, “of course, spicy African food”. So, food seems 2 Piglet. 3 Rosales

(2010), says that in the context she worked in, regardless of the cultural background of the guests, festive meals were always exclusively made up of Goan food. In the present case family celebrations always have Goan, Mozambican and Portuguese food.

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to be a very important memory trigger—in it, taste, smell and looks, come together, bringing up memories of different places and different times. We do believe that people ‘manipulate’ memory in order to reinforce their local and personal identity and in this context memory is engaged by individuals and collectivities to construct their identity and traditions (Lash and Friedman 2002) over a certain time and in a specific frameworks (Connerton 1993). We think that it is done in a consciously, but also without people being aware of the fact. Emotions as well as the emotional connection with places and objects, are vigorously caught up in the construction of memory (Rosales 2011) and forgetting. Forgetting is an active and important process—as important as remembering, according to Augé (2001:105–106)—and makes identities as much as memory does. The values and attitudes of various social groups, projected to them, are indicators of this memory and, once again, a choice. The memories of individuals—those that they have of themselves and of others and of the society where they live in, as well as those of whom they do not know except by hearing, through the eyes and the memories of others—won’t be exhausted in a theme. They exist as a whole, at the same time united and diverse. So, each memory is a starting point to another one, over a continuous axis, translated by stories that make up the history. If the materials that support memory are destroyed, the paths of “consequent souvenir”—understood as passage of memories to others—become blocked and one loses its path. In order to remember, memory needs stakeholders as well as places, objects and de structures (family and/or communities) it can rely on in order to make sense; to stop being just a memory, a souvenir (individual or of a select group) and to become a collective assembly, a social memory (Piedade 2011). The evocation of the memory mode is simultaneously individual and social: the individual, but also the group transmit, strengthen and retain the memories that make sense for them (Lavado 2004; Piedade 2011, 2013). The time of the memory is eminently cyclical and social, having an impact on the way it recovers memory; therefore, it is criss-crossed by calendars of work and fest, political events, unusual events or personal and social life (marriage, birth of children, nephews, younger siblings, death of relatives and neighbors). It is the evocation of these memories that will trigger their “memory of the world” (Lavado 2004). One learns to understand and to relativize time whenever it allows us to jump between the present and the past. The feelings of grief, of anger, of fear vanish and the subjects are seen as they were, when players in action. It’s not just “who I am, but who I was at that time” and the researcher rarely watches the confrontation of the protagonist with the past: “what we were and what we are now!”; “as if it mattered!”; “when you’re a kid, you make so many mistakes”. In what body changes are concerned, as a consequence of coming of age, photographs and video tapes can be the proof the informants need to make a statement. Especially women need to show how pretty they were, how thin they in opposition to their present bodies—sometimes with out-of-shape bodies and thinning hair. So, material objects have the double function of evoking memories and validating the narrative. When evoking any memories, the individual, in the abstract, always has an image of his body and it is through this body that can remember the—context both physical and social—that surrounds him. So the memory allows

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the relationship between this body and the body of the past and at the same time interferes in the “present” process of representations (Lavado 2004).

5 Memories and Significant Objects Bergson (1939/1993) believes that memories exist in a slumber stage, hence they are only potential. Memories only exist when triggered by consciousness, this is saying that they belong to the realm of the “unconscious”—the past as a whole is preserved and kept independent in the spirit of the individuals. According to Halbwachs, (1994) memory is the survival of the past. The author doesn’t study memory as such, but the social memory framing. In this sense, the memory of the individual depends on his relationship with the family and with the social status of belonging, as well as with the schools he attended, and with his religions or beliefs. Another key aspect that is important to remember is professional skills and the objects connected with them. So the social framing of memory becomes related with the groups of reference that this individual reports to during his life experience as well as the social institutions he identifies with. André is a shoemaker who has never had much money during his life. So, to him, the most significant objects are his tools. At the present moment he faces a dilemma: he knows he can’t be autonomous for much longer (he is 90 years old) and he recognizes that, even now, the rest home where he is institutionalized is the better option for him but he fears the moment he will have to leave his precious tools because he can’t take them to the rest home. For now, he is able to leave the rest home every day to go to his workshop where he still works, and only “goes home to sleep”, at night. His success was his profession and the evident skills to manipulate both the tools and the materials. “I’m not the man who puts shoes together, I make shoes and boots and I am the best, everybody says it”. And André showes the researcher a page from an old newspaper with an article about himself and his work—besides his tools, this is his most precious possession. And he says more: “I want to die working! I can’t bear the thought they’ll take my tools away from me…” The memories of the individuals are multiple and different. There are the memories that the individuals have of themselves, but also those memories that people have of the others and of society, as well as the memories that are evoked in the significant object both for people and for communities. The life of each individual, although unique, is part of a wider experience, making up a shared image of the collective memory and of the past of the society to which it belongs. The individual memory is more easily activated in the presence of objects, this is the reason why the house of the eldery is a privileged place for the collection of narratives of life. Objects such as letters, diaries, private manuscripts and photographs evoke memories while allowing the researcher to cross-reference the information contained in the narrator’s speech. Every step of the way, the researcher sees how the construction of the memory evoked is processed. Entering the home of informants and making contact with their objects means understanding the material supports of

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memory. When the people who are part of your family circle and of friends disappear (die), what remainsis the immaterial memory that dilutes, transforms and recombines with the myth. The shared past and the recollections evoked together disappear (Comwell and Gearing 1989). What remains are the records of the moment made materiality—photos, films, tickets,… —as well as other objects offered by loved ones to mark a significant event, objects acquired to start a life together, inherited from previous generations, those which they want to bequeath to the generations to come. Rosa loves reading. Her books are the most meaningful objects she has. Indeed she has only been allowed to bring books and clothes with her to the rest home. “I had to leave it all!, she says.” It’s so sad! It seems we are dying when we are still alive. I have my house and I go there every week, so I can bring different books every week. But… it is not the same. I can just bring five books at a time… I … It’s not fear… all my other things are at my home. This bed is quite small and it makes noises… At least I should have been allowed to bring my bed with me… That was my bed; you see… part of my husband is there.” Rosa has been a widow for about 15 years. She worked as a secretary for more than thirty years. She has got three children (one of them died about ten years ago), two girls and a boy. Her children are living abroad and she thought she should go to a rest home because she was too old to be alone. Her children were worried about her being alone in Portugal, so all together they decided she should go to an institution. The rest home she is in is considered a very good—and expensive—one, but to her there are several problems. She can’t have her own television set in her room and the professionals consider she should mingle and strike up a friendship with other people in the rest home. However, she is not interested because she has “nothing to say to them.” Going home and being there for several hours a week is her pleasure. It means being with her things. Antónia was a housewife. Her husband had a “good job” and frequently went abroad for work. He used to bring her dolls from all the countries and regions he visited. So, she began to collected dolls. For more than sixty years, she collected hundreds of dolls. To Antónia, these dolls are objects of love as well as objects of voyage. In addition, one of her dolls (the one she never gives up) is an amulet—bad news came to her when she did not have the doll with her, but everything was all right when that doll was with her. Her first doll was with her when she discovered she was pregnant but later on, when she found out she had lost her baby and would never be a mother, she was at the hospital and her doll was at home. When her husband was in a car crash and survived the doll was with her, but when she discovered he was very ill and when she learned about his death, the doll was not with her, once again. So, to her the doll is an amulet. Now she never leaves the doll and many of the other people in the rest home call her “the doll lady”. One doll and her clothes, as well as some photos, are all Antónia could take with her to the rest home. The other dolls were sold in an auction, as well as her furniture, paintings, religious images, books,… As Antónia says: “Now, I have nothing! All my things are gone! I have no one… no kids, my nephews come here once in a while but… I gave them some of my things but they didn’t want most of the objects … just kept some paintings. It all went to strangers.”

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Pedro and Vicencia are a couple. Pedro was a journalist and a teacher, after the 25th of April Revolution. Vicencia was a teacher in a private school. Both of them were considered oppositionists to the Portuguese “Estado Novo” and had problems with the political police. While Vicencia was an elementary school teacher in a private school, Pedro worked as a journalist for some time. Although they were not affiliated to any party, Pedro was threatened with prison. He didn’t stay in Portugal to “see what could happen”. He went to France as an illegal immigrant, but he managed to get a good job (he spoke Spanish, English, French, German and a little Italian) in an import/export company. During his exile time, as he describes it, one of his most cherished objects was his diary. It was also an object of transgression as it has registered his political opinions about Portuguese dictatorship. During that time, Vicencia stayed in Portugal with their four children. She went back to her parents home (she had no brothers or sisters). Her parents helped her with the children although she had never lacked money—her husband was able to send her money on a regular basis. Sometimes he also sent some presents to all the family. Vicencia remembers a pair of trousers her husband sent her. Trousers were at that time considered objects of transgression. In fact, in the fifties and sixties Portuguese women didn’t wear that kind of clothes. Vicencia laughs when she remembers the scene: “Imagine what would happen if I took them to work!” Even today, when she thinks about significant objects, she remembers that pair of trousers. They are both at a rest home. They still go out by themselves, and keep an active life. They still have their home (and visit it at least every two months) and they will keep it while they can—It’s their house. “All our things are there. We gave some of them to our sons and daughters and to our granddaughters and grandsons (they are nine). We gave them some paintings and some sculptures…”, “(…) but I kept my personal objects… some of them are in a safe, at the bank. We are not allowed to have jewelry here, at the rest home. We bought a safe and we have it in our room…” As the statements of our informants show, “houses, furnishings, clothes, body ornaments, jewels, weapons, coins, work instruments, musical instruments … sacred objects, material images of deities, ceremonial objects, art objects, monuments, a vast and heteroclite Set of material objects circulates significantly in our social life through cultural categories or classificatory systems within which we situate, separate, divide and hierarchize. Exposed daily to this extensive and diversified web of objects, its social and symbolic relevance, as well as its subjective repercussion in each one of us, ends up being overlooked because of the proximity, the familiar aspect and the obviousness that it assumes”(Gonçalves 2007:13).

6 Conclusion Speaking of the material baggage of the elderly means talking about their emotional baggage, the material support that allows for the paths of “consequent recall”. That is why those who are institutionalized in rest homes find it is so painful to dispose of their objects. Taking objects away from the eldery is equivalent to stopping someone

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from remembering, except for the memory of the object that evokes the memory. Ultimately it is about giving up most of you because “Objects secretly influence the lifes of each of us. Realizing and recognizing this fact can bring new perspectives on the processes by which we define, stabilize, or question our memories and identities” (Gonçalves 2007:10). Most studies about social memories and identity in old age have correctly pointed out the identity functions of those material objects (or even of supposed “immaterial” or “intangible” goods) in public representation of collective identities (nations, ethnic groups, religious groups, neighborhoods, regions). Apparently, less emphasis has been given to the very nature of objects elected as patrimony (their form, material with which they are produced, the production techniques adopted, their social uses and rituals) to represent a certain “identity” and “memory.” In some studies, the implicit or explicit suggestion is that the choice of these objects would be arbitrary, contingent in nature, materializing what would be emblems of “invented traditions” (Hobsbawm and Ranger 1992). Material objects imply classification systems in order to gain a significant existence. In fact, without classification systems, material objects (as well as their users) do not take on a significant existence (Durkheim and Mauss 1991; Mauss 2003; Boas 1996; Lévi-Strauss 1962; Douglas 1975; Sahlins 2004 [1976]; Geertz 1973). In different stages of life one understand objects differently, because “Material objects circulate permanently in social life so, it is important to trace descriptively and analytically their displacements and their transformations (or reclassifications) through the various social and symbolic contexts. Mercantile exchanges, ceremonial exchanges, or those institutional and discursive spaces such as collections, are some of these symbolic and cultural contexts. To accompany the displacement of objects along the boundaries that delimit these contexts is to understand the very dynamics of social and cultural life, their conflicts, ambiguities and paradoxes, as well as their effects on individual and collective subjectivity. The anthropological studies produced on material objects, repercussing this picture, have oscillated their focus of description and analysis between these social, ceremonial, institutional and discursive contexts.” (Gonçalves 2007:15). Material objects are thought of as a system of communication, a symbolic means through which individuals, groups, and social categories emit (and receive) information about their status and their position in society (Graburn 1975; Douglas 1982; Douglas and Isherwood 2004; Miller 1987, 1995; Bourdieu 1979; Gonçalves 2007:20; Maturo et al. 2016). The way our informants remember objects, as well as the kind of objects they remember and consider as significant, allows us to understand their social group of belonging. Objects are statements. The vision and the feelings regarding an object are also statements. As Annette Weiner states: “… we use objects to make statements about our identity, our goals, and even our fantasies. Through this human tendency to attribute meanings to objects, we learn from an early age that the things we use convey messages about who we are and who we seek to be. (…) We are intimately involved with objects that we love, desire, or which we give others. We mark our relationships with objects (…). Through the objects we manufacture our self-image, we cultivate and intensify relationships. Objects still hold what in the

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past is vital to us. (…) not only make us go back in time but also become the bricks that link the past to the future” (Weiner 1987:159, 1992).

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Graburn, N.: Ethnic and Tourist Arts: Cultural Expressions from The Fourth World. University of California Press, Berkeley (1975) Grillo, R.D.: Cultural essentialism and cultural anxiety. In: Anthropological Theory, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 157–173. Sage Publications, London (2003) Gupta, A., Ferguson, : Beyond ‘culture’: space, identity, and the politics of difference. Cult. Anthropol. 7, 6–23 (1992) Gurvitch, G.: Níveis de Cultura e Grupos Sociais, Col. Coordenadas. Cosmos, Lisboa (1974) Halbwachs, M.: Les cadres sociaux de ia mêmoire. Albin Michel, Paris (1994) Hall, S., du Gay, P. (eds.): Questions of Cultural Identity. Sage Publications, London (1996) Hetherington, K.: Expressions of Identity: Space, Performance, Politics. Sage, London (1998) Hobsbawm, E., Ranger, T.: The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1983) Hobsbawm, E., Ranger, T.: Nations and Nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1992) Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: The effect of language preparation on communication skills and growth of students’ self-confidence. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 114, 644–648 (2014). https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.sbspro.2013.12.761 Jenkins, R.: Social Identity. Routledge, London (2008) Kubináková, K.: Whose Goa? Projection of Goan identity in rival discourses. Post Graduate Dissertation, University of Groningen, Netherlands (2010) Lash, S., Friedman, J. (eds.): Modernity and Identity. Blackwells, Oxford (1992, 2002) Lavado, A.: De fazedores de jogos a construtores de tempo. In: Godinho, P., Bastos, S., Fonseca, I. (Coord.). Jorge Crespo: estudos em homenagem. 100Luz, Castro Verde (2009) Lavado, A.: No trilho dos pequenos deuses: aprendizagens da memória. Dissertação: Doutoramento em Antropologia Social e Cultural, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa (2004) Lavado, A.: Animação territorial: ouvir a vida e fazer o destino. Práticas de Animação, ano 2, n. 1, out. (2008) Le Grand, J.-L. Histoire de vie de groupe: a la recherche d’une ludicité methodologique, n. 18, pp. 3–4. Société, Maio (1988) Lévi-Strauss, C.: La science du concret. In: La pensée sauvage, pp. 3–42. Plon, Paris (1962) Maturo, A., Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Soitu, D.T., Kacprzyk, J. (eds.): Recent Trends in Social Systems: Quantitative Theories and Quantitative Models. Book Series: Studies in System, Decision and Control 66, p. 426. Springer International Publishing AG (2016) Mauss, M.: Sociologia e Antropologia. Cosac Naify, São Paulo (2003) Miller, D.: Material Culture and Mass Consumption. Blackwell, London (1987) Miller, D.: Comsumption and commodities. Ann. Rev. Anthropol. 24, 141–161 (1995) Piedade, A.: Memórias e representações territoriais: o caso da vila do Lavradio. Práticas de Animação, ano 5, n. 4 (2011) Piedade, A.: Contar-se como se foi, ver-se como se é: histórias de vida e empowerment. Práticas de Animação, ano 6, n. 5, pp. 1–27 (2013) Poirer, J., Clapier-Valladon, S., Raybaut, P.: Histórias de Vida—Teoria e Prática, Col. Métodos e Técnicas. Celta Editora, Oeiras (1995) Rosales, M.: O verdadeiro caril Moçambicano. Transnacionalismo, quotidianos e materialidades Goesas na África Colonial. In: Trovão, S., Rosales, M. (Org.) Das Índias: Gentes, Movimentos e Pertenças Transnacionais. Colibri, Lisboa (2010) Rosales, M.: The domestic work of consumption: materiality, migration and homemaking. Etnográfica [Online] 14(3), 507–525 (2011) Sahlins, M.: La pensée bourgeoise: a sociedade ocidental como cultura. In: Cultura na prática, pp. 179–22. Ed. da UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro (2004) [1976] Samuel, R., Thompson, P. (Org.): The Myths We Live By. Routledge, London (1990) Sapir, E.: Culture, genuine and spurious. In: Mandelbaum, D.G. (eds.) Selected writings in language, culture and personality. University of California Press, Berkeley (1985) [1924]

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The “LIVE” Time and the Feedback Instantaneity: The Need of a New Perspective Serena Sanseviero

Abstraction today is no longer that of the map, the double, the mirror or the concept. Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being or a substance. It is rather the generation of models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal. The territory no longer precedes the map, nor survives. [...] It is the map that precedes the territory - precession of simulacra - it is the map which engenders the territory [...] The age of the simulation begins with the elimination of all referents - worse: with their artificial resurrection in a system of signs, which are a more ductile material of meanings because they lend themselves to any equivalence system, each binary opposition, and any combinatorial algebra. It is no longer a question of imitation, nor duplication or parody. It is rather a question of the actual replacement by the real signs; that is, an erase operation of any real process by its operational double. [...] Will be a hyperreal, away from any distinction between real and imaginary, that only leaves room for the recurrence of models and the simulated generation of differences. (Simulacres et simulation) Jean Baudrillard

Abstract When it comes to digital media is not referenced in the media “new” compared to the traditional ones: digital television is still television, in the same way—being an evolution of the traditional one—a mobile phone is always and anyway a telephone. The problem is that the digital convergence of all media in the last two decades, makes these media (mobile, I-pod, game consoles, netbooks, now and the I-pad) something very different from the average of our recent past. In fact, with a mobile I can continue to make calls, but I can also: check my calendar appointments, browse the web, read and send email, update my profile in Facebook, take pictures and shoot video. The digital language actually transforms it in a powerful multimedia station: much more than a phone. This ability to “do many things” with

S. Sanseviero (B) Università G. D’Annunzio Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_27

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the same tool (intermediality) is not the only characteristic of the specific digital media communication. Keywords City · Representation · Images · Space · Time

1 Introduction The speed of change in the media world has reached incredible high peaks and till nowadays unknown. Castells compares today’s rate respect to the previous pace of change “in the US radio took thirty years to reach sixty million people, television has reached this level of penetration in fifteen years; Internet did it in only three years since the birth of the world wide web” (Castells 1996; trad. it. p. 382). This observation can be extended to all those technological innovations called ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and they define the “new media” field, which succeeded in a very short period of time, revolutionizing the entire scope of the mass media, including the oldest and established ones. So there are digital challenges for people; the speed of change has an impact on every aspect of our life and the evolution or change in other domains: economy (we are always more buying through websites), study (online classes …)., work (different methods of management of the same ranging from digitized cash, the smart ticket with their names of items purchased, the inventory on line etc.) … architecture. This change has also become important regarding the transformation of the relationship between people (increasingly virtual, and always less real). Many interesting ideas can be found e.g. in Maturo et al. (2016) or Urban and Hoskova-Mayerova (2017).

2 The Representation and the Flows Space The references have changed also in architectural design and in the representation of the city and the built space. Hence the reversal of the reading, for example, from the plant to the iconography of material in the German Pavilion in Barcelona by Mies van der Rohe for the Universal Exhibition of 1929: “travertine for the basement, golden honey-colored onyx and green marble for the walls, crystals frosted and in a transparent gray for the glass surfaces, chrome steel for the columns and for the chairs, leather, heavy velvet, water stops such as lakes one” (Barbara 2000, p. 115) and the flows space. The architecture takes on the consistency of its second skin gown, to the extent that the plan it applies to “inhabit it” and the evocative choice of combinations consists of the ability to create relationships, combinations “without borders.” In fact also the project does not aim to tell more stories vector made of space understood in full Renaissance meaning and aided by the discovery of perspective, but it now tells stories in the plural as plural are the senses and recalled the plots

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that the forms evoke. One basic and fundamental consideration to accept before entering into the fascinating world of the representation of space and architectures today, is certainly linked to a new concept of space, among all the idea apparently clearer and accessible, and its critical review in the name of experience. Creating a crossing game between science and art, through the non-Euclidean geometries revolution and overcoming the prospective plant starting from the pre-Impressionist paintings, Merleau-Ponty becomes a witness to a radical change in thinking about the spatiality destined soon to also invest other fields of knowledge and also distorting the assumptions of them (Merleau-Ponty 2012, p. 6): the change involves our perception of space. As the Renaissance architects created the prospect as a new relationship with reality, mathematical reconstruction of reality through geometry, so now the architect has to create a new relationship with reality through the stereoscopic perspective that is a perspective which is at the same time real space one and that of the virtual time of the space, the live time, real time which allows to communicate and interact with the world in the same moment in which the action takes place (Ranaulo 2001 p. 20). We go from the perspective visibility to visual as the intersection of real domain and virtual environments, trespassing determined by the body of the user. So the geometric space, the passage or space of the metropolis scroll, is transformed into a fluid element. In this new perspective, the fact of the live time (concept related to the process observed by those who interact with the technological tool) and the feedback instantaneity, the architecture and the representation of space become metaphors of space and played through by the body itself (which inhabits and which precisely pass through it). There is also a changing in the idea of architecture which becomes a “scene” because of the project is handled by the user and the project time and the use of it are the same. But this coincidence is possible by the use of technological tools and the use of spaces and architectures for computer and technological means and the objective language of architecture (through design drawings) and photos that were and are able to restore the purity forms, replacing the metaphorical browser hybrid, the overlap, the impetuousness of outside text. The architecture interactive screen makes the building an object to “cross” and in turn the space on which the viewer insists becomes a space expanded by the presence of the screen. The city then becomes the audience of the world not only symbolically but also properly technological because the device itself allows a link not mediated by deterritorializate narrative structures.

3 The Idea of Space … and Time The space is not an empty expanse where objects are distributed in three dimensions, their properties are invariant to changes of place, and inside it everything becomes more unstable: some guidelines take precedence over the other, each positioning is such only in relation the person who receives it, and every act of movement transforms their joints and profile (Merleau-Ponty 2012, pp. 8–9). In space we find the first and most tangible evidence of human corporeality and the impact that this has on the perception and experience. But in fact, the visible and represented space through

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the use of new technologies is an “altered space” in fact, the new communication techniques have now “canceled space by time” (Marx), the different layers of the contemporary city are the result of the different communities that live in it, and into the collective memory places are mixed and their elements take on a new order according to new rules. Echoing the words of Virilio we can say that “ancient societies lived in a local time, the past time, the present and future, the future of history. It was the local time of geography, cities, and so on. Today we begin to live in the worldwide time, in the global time, and this is nothing more than the time “live”, it is the instantaneity of the feedback between the transmission and the reception that favors interactivity and interaction. In this context a work remains to do which can be compared to that of Brunelleschi, Alberti, Piero della Francesca, in order to build a stereoscopic perspective that is no longer that of the fifteenth century, as it is based on real-time, on space-real time in which the action begins to take place”.1 The contemporary city is a need to establish a “new alliance” uniting and finding a balance between the need to live in the body and in the reality, and a new virtual dimension.

4 A New “Perspective” If you leaf through a dictionary under “perspective” we note that the word has at least a couple of commonly used definitions. The first relates to the figurative arts. A classic example of artistic representation where it is highlighted that the element of perspective is the ideal city of Piero della Francesca. But the prospect term has another meaning, more abstract. It is usual to say “there are good—or bad—perspectives” depending on what you expect from the future. In the first case, that of the visual arts or architecture, perspective is a characteristic of the arrangement of things in space. In the latter it refers to the time and gets in the game—in the broadest sense—a kind of “world view.” According to Virilio “painters and architects of the Renaissance they did not create works, but a relationship with the new reality. The prospect is a new relationship with reality: Alberti, and other Italian artists in Rome, before building and before Brunelleschi realized his masterpieces, tried with the prospect to rebuild the reality mathematically, through geometry. Today we should be set about the same challenge, but at the level of stereoscopic perspective, that is to say of a perspective that is both that of the real space, as in the fifteenth, and on the other hand that of real time, the “live”. We must ensure that the two things converge to create a stereoscopic perspective, and at that moment we find ourselves in globalization, as well as in the reality. The real is never given, it is always constructed. The sense of reality is something that is learned, that you inherit, and then you change, and so on (Hoskova-Mayerova and Rosicka 2015). Today, we are at a stage of modification of reality, which is accelerated by means of technologies and at the same time increased. We must build that kind of reality, and architects are in a very good conditions to 1 P.

VIRILIO, The Future in the Stereo Space by Mediamente, RAI Educational.

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do so. But before building houses they will need to rebuild the actual real along with other specialists, because obviously it is not the task only for the architects.” Queau teaches: there are different realities. Cyberspace highlights how reality is not something static and unchanging. It is not just only what Baudrillard said about traditional media, television in the first place, which produce a simulation of such a credible reality to be considered more real than the material reality, an iper-reality which now stands as the only horizon of meaning. It is not just a simulation of reality disconnected from what was real. This simulation brought us and now makes us in some way passive: we were witnesses of the transfiguration of reality. But now, thanks to the interactivity, we help to create the reality. To the final user we give the possibility to revise, edit and create a custom path to access to the information building an own proper image of reality: an image which he will then present to others. The socio-political problem is to see those who are able to rework and deciphering the reality, which, as Queau says, will determine whether we will be in the field of the elect or in the virtual proletarian’s one. At each exciting technological innovation, and especially for those related to communication, followed another even more amazing. And this has convinced many that the technology itself push forward human progress; as well as always the technology, or better its continuous development, is the main objective of this progress.2 The perspective so is not just a simple matter of space. It’s a vision of the world as a whole, and above all it is a total way of understanding our place in the world both bodily and mental. Still Queau argues that the image is no longer a way to comprehensively grasp reality, as happens with a text or a book. There is, then, the image in which you live, where you will live. It will be the image of the XXI century, which will become a second skin of the world. Today we find ourselves more and more in the perception of reality, but this second skin will be a new world where it will be possible to live and inhabit the image or simply look at it and read it. Today we are witnessing a change of the accelerated reality and increased by new technologies. A change that now puts us in a situation of having to learn a new sense of reality; a reality in which the change is not only the concept of space but also that of time. (HoskovaMayerova and Rosicka 2012). As M. Unali says, the term representation can also be understood as a “tight” etymological meaning to present again, or if you prefer, to disclose something, to show, to reveal. In other words, with this term, we refer to all those processes that allow us to “replace” a thing (an object, a phenomenon, an abstract entity, etc.) with another, and that will guarantee between the two entities (or phenomena) a recognizable and meaningful correspondence character (of property) (Fig. 1). And then “the city exists as a series of duplicity: has an official and hidden culture, it’s a real place and at the same time an imagery. Its elaborate network of roads, houses public buildings, transportation, parks, shops systems running parallel to the complex of attitudes, habits, customs, expectations and hopes that belong to us as urban subjects. We discover that the reality is not single but multiple, within a 2 “The New Perspective” http://www.mediamente.rai.it/home/tv2rete/mm9899/aforismi/990512. htm.

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Fig. 1 Time/space; Classical conceptions, such as, for example, Kantian concepts of space and time are now supplanted by a "fluid, plasmatic, fusional" space-time, but with deep breaks and gaps. There is talk of information gaps, of differences in the levels of knowledge, of accessibility among the regions of cyberspace (Queau 1995)

city there is always another one. The bodies are becoming like cities, their time coordinates are transformed into spatial coordinates. Making a poetic summary, the story is replaced by geography, stories from the maps, the memories from scenarios. We no longer perceive ourselves as continuity but as a place [. . . ] You can no longer have roots in history: we are instead related to the topography of the schemes and computer monitors, which provide us with the language and the images we need to communicate with others and see ourselves. The postmodern confusion of time and space, in which the temporal continuity slips into the extension and the spatial dimension is lost in reproduction, transforms the urban culture in a giant hologram capable of producing any image in an apparent void. In this process space and time are transformed into their own icons and so following they are represented as scenarios”.3 The interdependence between space and time, demonstrated by the theory of relativity, find its first artistic expressions with Picasso and Braque: the simultaneous representation of different points of view is the result of a process of analysis and decomposition of the represented thing, and a re-composition that unifies in a double dimensional parties which otherwise were perceptible only moving in space and time. In architecture, the new artistic orientations lead to an overcoming of the static relationship between elements of the composition and between architecture and surround, typical of the classical tradition, in favor of an architectural and urban open and dynamic composition. The experiences of European avant-garde more directly related to this gender were advanced Futurism, Russian Constructivism, with its diversification, and especially the De Stijl movement. The analysis method, decomposition and re-composition of the architectural envelope and of its parts is directly comparable with the Cubist synthesis space-time. Most part of the architecture of the Modern Movement has been influenced by the new consciousness of a dimension of architectural space not definable in absolute

3 From E.W. SOJA, Digital Communities, Simcity and Hyperreality of Everyday Life in Lotus n.110.

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terms but relative ones, assuming the functional components—and therefore the temporal dimension of daily life—as part of the project. So the picture of reality that plays a central role in the information age, which is the cheapest type of information that exists, which most immediately strike, and possesses a wealth of information that is instantly perceived and that verbal narration, reading, listening to music or touch are not able to pass through, is the current representation of the complexity, which is defined by Virilio as follow: “From it derives the visual character, almost said panoptic, of the modern societies, which are societies of “image”. So to define a representative mode linked to the “complexity” (and of what with this term we want to intend above all in architecture and urbanism) of the contemporary urban condition we use the image” which is not simply a conceptual material reproduced through the design, the model, the isometric and the perspective, but it’s a building material too. The contemporary city is represented (reflective and impersonal) using the “language” of generalized communication (words, sounds, images) that exercise a main role in the conformation and reproduction of the real and the imaginary, which has also turned to communicative speed and dissemination of information, the overall scenario of the discipline; transforming it in fluid and metaphorical, that is close to the digital creative dimension and, as image, oscillating between the concrete and the abstract, in other words, “real and virtual”. This process of evolution of the representation, triggered mainly by the transformation of technology from being “mechanical to electronic or computer phase, to which corresponds new messages forwarder of “esthetic” value, increasingly brings the time of the “survey” closer to that of “design”. The image of the contemporary city is like a “visualization of available information in global systems of processing themselves, along paths provided by communications networks, which allows the coexistence and interaction of multi-users, and permit the reception and transmission of information through all of the human senses, the simulation of real and virtual realities, the collection and control of far data through telepresence and integration and intercommunication with intelligent products and environments in real space” (Tagliagambe). Light, speed, image and information. Their interaction gives rise to a problem that concerns the dimension of time: it is the question of the temporal compression, that is, the possibility of using the speed of light to achieve interactivity situations. In real time you can “tele watch, tele listen, tele do”. The temporal compression generated by the network transmission results in the overlap of all surfaces (layers). In this case, technically it is called a “face to face” of the surface which is the interface: the interface is the computer screen, the TV but it is also a great opportunity offered to us by the media and the advanced technology to interact and to stay where we are not placed physically (Fig. 2). By the external sense (one of the property of our spirit) we own represent objects as they are outside us and all together in space. Here their shape, size and mutual relations are determined or determinable. The internal sense, by which the spirit perceives itself or its internal state, doesn’t give any soul intuition itself, as object; but there is a defined form for which only the intuition of its internal state is possible, so that all is connected to the internal

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Fig. 2 V = Visible plan

determinations is shown in time reports. Time can’t be guessed externally, as the space can’t be guessed as something that is within us. So what are the space and the time? are they real entities? Or they are only determinations, or links between things, so closed to enhance to them also inside, even if not guessed, or they are so to be only linked to the form of the intuition, and for this to the subjective construction of our spirit, without which those predicates couldn’t be referred to any things?4

5 Conclusion To a closer watching, from the map of cyber geography of the urban place, that of personal relationships, economic and social surrounding there is a not variable point: the territory has no space and no time or, as Mitchell says, “time and space don’t exist.” Strong statements, certainly redundant and absolutely inconceivable with existing means and space-time, as so as epistemological and geometric. Yes, because, such a statement can be reflected only if we change our frame of reference, our conventional world of signs and symbols related to the location and distance 4 KANT,

Criticism of pure reason.

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Fig. 3 Mitchell, “time and space do not exist”—The widespread use of electronic equipment is gradually redesigning the map of interpersonal communications. But, in doing so, it also redesigns the very structure of human communities, no longer based on the link of closeness but on that of telematic networking (Rheingold 1994)

between things and linked to their constant transformation due to the passing of time. As it’s evident all this create many difficulties. Jean Baudrillard is perhaps the best known theorist and performer of the sphere always more wide of the imagined or virtual reality, and in particular of the increasing difficulties we have to distinguish what is real from what is imagined (Fig. 3). When our ability to distinguish between real and imagined is always more weak, Baudrillard claims, it generates another type of reality, an iper-reality, and begins to flow in our daily lives, not only through internet, but also along many other less ethereal channels… from this the passage to the replacement of the reality with an image, with a representation of it become almost instantaneous. It abandons “the real” for the hyperreal by presenting an increasingly real simulation of a comprehensive and comprehendible world. This points the way toward heading Baudrillard’s “hypertelia,” that fated catastrophe. When the sophistication of a model outdoes the reality it attempts to comprehend. For Baudrillard, the shift from the real to the hyperreal occurs when representation gives way to simulation. One could argue that we are standing at the brink of such a moment, marked primarily by the emerging presence of a virtual world. Just as the

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highways once transformed our country, the “Information Superhighway” offers an image of dramatic change in American lives through a change in virtual landscape. As so as this expression originated in the White House as a catchy term for the proposal National Information Infrastructure (NII), the expression quickly entered into popular parlance as a pseudonym for the already—existing Internet worldwide network. The overused expression little by little represents the actual network architecture which connects these machines, yet the metaphor of the highway persists as a media image, functioning as a conceptual model for the world created by this technology. One doesn’t “go” somewhere when picking up the telephone. Baudrillard indicates it as “precession of simulacra”. It’s here the case to face deep as brilliant philosophical assessments, but a data is sure the representation of the territory, and also may be of the world, in relation to the new category space-time has changed, and it has changed because the map comes before the territory and the sign comes before the thing. Anyway this assessment, as said by E.W. Soja, is less of legitimacy because “for the making wider of the simulation also the words we are using seems to have what they haven’t got”. As said so far, however, could be better accepted or considered if we look at what the world were once upon a time when we could speak with confidence of change and renewal, of trends and management, and it was a solid world, in which we could distinguish the difference between an idea and its contact person, between representation (as image of reality), and represented, between the image (also fantastic at that time) and reality. Now, however, the two status are hopelessly together unified […] and we are too, the cities and the territories, we are irredeemably together, present together in Space and Time”.5

References Barbara, A: History of Architecture Through the Senses. Bruno Mondadori, Milan (2000) Castells, M.: The Rise of Network Society (trad. it. Milano 2002). New York (1996) Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Rosicka, Z.: Programmed learning. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 31, 782–787 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.12.141 Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Rosicka, Z.: E-learning pros and cons: active learning culture? Procedia—Soc. Behav. Sci. 191, 958–962 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.702 Maturo, A., Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Soitu, D.T., Kacprzyk, J. (eds.): Recent Trends in Social Systems: Quantitative Theories and Quantitative Models. Book Series: Studies in System, Decision and Control 66. Springer International Publishing AG. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-405858 (2016) Merleau-Ponty, M.: Phenomenologie de la perception, Librairie Gallimard, Paris.Id. (2012), Fenomenologia della percezione (2003), a cura di Rovatti Pier Aldo, traduzione di Bonomi Andrea, Bompiani, Milano (1945) Merleau-Ponty, M.: Fenomenologia della percezione. Il Saggiatore, Milano (1965) Queau, P.: La rivoluzione del virtuale, 12 maggio. Available online at http://www.emsf.rai.it/ interviste/interviste.asp (1995) 5 Personal Considerations on E.W. Soy, Digital Communities, Simcity and Hyperreality of Everyday

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Ranaulo, G.: Light Architecture. Testo & Immagine, Torino (2001) Rheingold, H.: The Virtual Community. Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier (trad. it. Comunità virtuali. Parlare, incontrarsi, vivere nel cyberspazio, Milano 1994). London (1994) Urban, R., Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Threat life cycle and its dynamics. Deturope 9(2), 93–109 (2017)

Gender Violence and New Technologies Ana Vallejo Andrada, Judith Jorge Sanchez and José Luis Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano

Abstract This research discusses the topic of New Technologies and how they can affect gender violence. We have focused our investigation on Social Networks as they are the most popular contact methods between the younger generations. To analyse how they could affect or not affect our relationships we have surveyed eight hundred and eighty-five people, separating them by their age and sex, with the aim of analysing how these factors affect the results. Keywords Bulling · Gender violence · New technologies · Cyberbullying · Social work · Young people · Teenagers

1 Introduction Nowadays, we are living through an evolution in communication methods with New Technologies and Social Media. This technological evolution, which started in the first decade of the 21st century, has created a necessity to be connected to the internet, the internet being one of the most common methods of socialising for everybody. This need is especially remarkable between young people, who it seems, cannot live without the internet. As a consequence of this internet networks have become the place where most of the communication between them takes place, especially on social networks (Bartrina 2014). Consequently, we can say that the internet has changed our social relationships, creating a new backdrop of conflicts, a new backdrop with which we are not familiar. And violence cannot be an exception. A. V. Andrada · J. J. Sanchez · J. L. S. Sánchez-Serrano (B) Pablo de Olavide University, Seville, Spain e-mail: [email protected] A. V. Andrada e-mail: [email protected] J. J. Sanchez e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_28

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The traditional ways of abuse have changed, creating new bullying techniques to intimidate the victim by using social networks. This new form of bullying is called cyberbullying and consists of aggression by one individual or a group of individuals to others using new technologies (phones, the internet, WhatsApp, e-mail, Facebook etc.) (León et al. 2012). As general violence and methods of abuse have changed, gender violence has experienced modifications too. Now, the abuser does not need a specific space to mistreat the victim, he or she can do it at any moment, in any place using the internet and social networks (Valverde et al. 2014).

2 Violence and New Technologies As we have already said, improvements in Information and Communication technologies, and the ease with which we can exchange information and the ability with which we can be in contact with other people are changing our society, our ways of forming relationships and our methods of communicating. The Internet, mobile phones, social networks etc., now play an important role in our lives having a remarkable influence on our behaviour (Martín et al. 2016, p. 406). On the one hand, it is undisputable that new technologies have made people’s lives easier in many aspects but the new problems that they bring to us are something we cannot ignore, such as, Cyberbullying, Grooming, Sexting and Sextortion. (Pardo 2010): – Cyberbullying: It consists of the humiliation, harassment and threat to a person by another person using the internet, social networks, digital technologies, mobile phones etc. An example of cyberbullying could be messages of harassment from apps like Skype, Yahoo, Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, between others; The theft of passwords and/or the obligation to tell your partner your passwords; Offensive comments on blogs, websites; sending private images to other people by email or mobile phones; Identity theft etc. (Pardo 2012, p. 199). – Grooming: This consists of the manipulation of a person to make him or her accept sexual contact via Webcam and in some cases, this can lead to a meeting in person. The abuser is normally an older person with a false identity, with this identity the abuser seduces the victim, making him or her send sexual photos, with which the abuser can blackmail the victim (Pardo 2010). – Sextortion: We talk about sextortion when someone uses sexual and personal images or videos to blackmail the other person. Sextortion is more common between young couples but there are also cases between adults. During the relationship the couple send each other sexual photographs as a sexual game and when the relationship is over the abuser uses them to oblige the victim to do what the abuser demands them to do (Pardo 2012, pp. 200–201).

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3 Gender Violence and New Technologies All the above-mentioned things are negative effects of the misuse of new technologies and social networks which are affecting our society and, as a new part of our society; this misuse is also affecting gender violence, creating new methods to cause damage to the victim (Durán-Segura and Martínez-Pecino 2015). Girls are normally the most common victims of cyberbullying and gender violence (Kowalski et al. 2010). The easy access and general use of new technologies and new Apps for teenagers and children make them more vulnerable to these new risks. For this reason, it is indispensable the use of facilities to protect them as well as the education of the younger ones in how to correctly use these new applications and the new dangers that they can be exposed to by using new technologies (Tejerina and Flores 2009). An example of one of these new elements which has a direct influence on Gender Violence is WhatsApp. The number of WhatsApp users was 19 million in 2012, and it has increased exponentially in the last few years. In previous decades there was no contact methods as accessible as WhatsApp, so we used calls and text messages. However, with the appearance of WhatsApp, it has become a new social phenomenon which makes us become constantly focused on our mobile phones. It has also created new arguments between couples. As with every new social phenomenon people need to be educated in the correct use of them. Especially when all your WhatsApp contacts have information about you, about when you are or not connected, when you see a message, when you hear an audio file, when you last connected etc. (Martín et al. 2016). So, an application that initially could help us be in contact with our friends and are partners, can also become the cause of arguments, mistrust, jealousy, etc. In some cases, arguments, mistrust and jealousy can convert into violence and control of WhatsApp connections times, of the other person in our life. In other words, minor problems can soon escalate into gender violence (Martín et al. 2016, p. 410). Some authors have termed the concept of Dating Violence. We can understand Dating Violence for all the violent acts (physical, psychological and sexual) that happen between young couples and adults that do not live together or have not got married. This type of violence does not have clear abuse indicators, but they are the first steps of a future potential violent relationship. Nowadays, there is a clear connection between the control of the victim’s social networks or the control of the victim using the social network (Estébanez 2012). In Violence Against Women, who are the most common victims of Gender Violence, we have to take into account some factors which can help us to evaluate the prevalence and the type of violence, depending on the combinations between them. (Igual n.d., p. 2). • Who are the abusers? (The couple, the family, the society…) • Which New Technology do they use? (Mobile Phones, Social Media, SMS, email…)

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• Which is the nature of the violence (harassment, online harassment, intimate partner violence, cultural justification of violence against women, sexual assault, and violence targeting certain groups of women) • The type of aggression (threats, blackmail, identity theft, spying on online communications and recording and/or distribution of unauthorized images) • The type of damage: (Physical damage, psychological damage, sexual damage, economic damage, damage to privacy) • The social and personal characteristics of the victim (for example, cultural level, nationality, race, age, the existence of a disability or any other type of vulnerability) (Igual n.d., p. 2) Using these factors and the Association for Progressive Communication Women’s Classification of Violence against Women related with the new technologies we can try to classify the violence into these five categories (Igual n.d., p. 3): 1. Online harassment: This is one of the most visible forms of violence against women related with technology. It involves harassing women through messages (SMS, WhatsApp, etc.) to posting on social networks comments on the women’s profiles, their friends, their family, etc. 2. Violence in the couple context, where technology is used as a form of violence (harassment, insults, threats), as a form of control or as a form of extortion to prevent women from leaving the relationship. For example, some women are afraid of leaving abusive partners because threats of disclosure of intimate images or private communications. 3. Culturally justified violence against women, when technology plays a role in creating a culture of violence against women or its justification. It can vary from something as seemingly banal as the spread of a sexist joke that supports the idea that women are less valuable than men, to the creation of a group in a social network that promotes different ways to drug women and abuse them. 4. Rape and sexual abuse, where technology is used to track the movement and activities of a victim or to provide information about their location or when a sexual assault is recorded and distributed online. In other cases, new technologies can be used to contact women and bring them to an appointment where they will be sexually assaulted. 5. Violence directed to communities, certain groups, associations, political parties known for their support for women or victims, can be victims of attacks through new technologies in the form of insults, threats or cyber-attacks. In fact, many Bloggers have been attacked on their blogs for defending positions favourable to women (Igual n.d., p. 3). These new forms of gender violence, do not stand alone, they appear combined with the older social forms of gender violence which justify all the new techniques of control, which are having a strong influence in relationship of couples. One of these old forms of gender violence is Romantic Myths, these myths produce beliefs about what “true love” is. Ruiz (2016), based on research by Yela (2003), Ferret et al. (2010), Luzón (2011) and Bosch et al. (2013) the most common romantic myths are:

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• Myth of the incomplete orange: it is based on the belief of the couple’s predestination as the only possible choice, the union of two soul mates. This false belief is based on the ideal of a complement without which we think that our lives are not complete until we find the other half. This acceptance can lead us to the risk of being disappointed with the “chosen couple” or, on the contrary, to think that; we must “accept” what we do not like, because we are predestined to be together. • Pairing myth: the idea that the couple is universal and natural in all cultures. This belief ignores the “normality” that those people who do not meet the “expected end” of having a partner. • Myth of loyalty and exclusivity: based on the impossibility of falling in love with two people at the same time. However, this myth has different interpretations according to gender; infidelity is not yet equally valued in girls and boys. • Myth of jealousy: a belief that relates jealousy with true love and even as an essential ingredient, since the lack of it would be related to a form of non-love. This myth can lead to selfish, repressive and even violent behaviour and constitutes a real problem in relationships with gender violence, since it refers to love being something that is nothing more than a form of domination and power. • Myth of omnipotence: understands that love is enough to face the different obstacles in the relationship, “love can conquer everything”. It is usually used as an excuse to avoid modifying behaviours or attitudes and denying conflicts. • A Belief that when you really love someone, that person should be indispensable in your life: This idea places in second place and, therefore sees everything that is not the couple, such as friendships, hobbies, family as irrelevant… • If you love me, you should not hide secrets from me: if we are for each other and one for another (in heterosexual relationships), there should be no secrets, and each person should know everything about the other person (Ruiz 2016, p. 627).

4 Methodology With the aim of investigating the relationship of gender violence and new technologies, we have used a quantitative technique, the questionnaire was developed using Google Surveys to and then social media spread the questionnaire. There were thirteen questions, three of them related to general information and ten related to specific parts of our research and our hypothesis, which are: • The majority of people surveyed look at their partner’s social network profile either daily or up to three or more times per day. • Men look more at their couples last connection time than woman do. • The younger the people surveyed the higher would be percentage of “yes” answers in questions six and seven.

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• The younger the people surveyed the more likely he or she would feel harassed on social networks. • Men are going to choose more Romantic Myths than women. Our sample was composed of eight hundred and eighty five people, whose ages were between 11 and 30 years old. Divided in five groups: 11–14 (3.1%), 15–18 (28.2%), 19–22 (36.7%), 23–30 (20.3%) and more than 30 years old (11.7%). With regards gender, 68.1% of our respondents were women whereas men were 31.9%. Our research factors are:

Code

Factor

VGT0001

Age

VGT0002

Sex

Question 1 2

VGTM0003 The most popular social network

3

VGT0004

The frequency with which they check their partner’s social network profile

4

VGT0005

The frequency with which they check their partners social network last connection time

5

VGT0006

The possibility of starting or not starting an argument if their partner has been connected to the social network without answering one of their messages

6

VGT0007

The decision to start or not start an argument if their partner has been connected to the social network and has seen their message without answering it

7

VGT0008

The decision to start or not start an argument if their partner has uploaded a sexy or hot photo of him/herself

8

VGT0009

The decision to start or not start an argument if their partner has uploaded a photo of someone of the opposite sex with certain characteristics

9

VGT0010

The decision to start or not start an argument if their partner has a photo with his/her ex-partner

VGT0011

The knowledge of a sextortion case

11

VGT0012

The number of bully or harassment case victims in our sample

12

VGT0013

Romantic Myths

13

10

Source Personal compilation

5 Results During this section we are going to focus on the results of our research and the possible relationship between the factors which could be interesting for our conclusions. • Which social network do you use? (VGT0003)

Gender Violence and New Technologies Graph 1 Which social network do you use? Source Author compilation

381

Twitter

39.60%

Snapchat

36.60%

Instagram

73.90%

Facebook

71.90%

WhatsApp

Graph 2 With what frequency do you check your partner’s social network profile? Source Author compilation

12%

98.60%

21%

21% 17% 12% 17%

3 or more times per days Daily More than one time per week Weekly Never Others

Regards this question we can see that most of the people surveyed have WhatsApp (98.60%), followed by Instagram (73.90%) and Facebook (71.90%), being in last position people who have Twitter and Snapchat (36.60%) (Graph 1). • With which frequency do you check your partner’s social network profile? (VGT0004) As we can see in our survey results the majority of people surveyed check their partner’s social network between 3 or more times per day (21%) and never (21%), followed by the ones who check it daily (17%) and more than one time per week (17%), leaving in last positions the ones who check it on a weekly basis (12%) (Graph 2). • With what frequency do you check your partner last connection? (VGT0005) Regards the frequency our surveyed checked their partner’s last connection, we can say that most of them never check it (53%), followed by the ones who check it daily (11%), and more than once per week (10%), being in last position the ones who check it 3 or more times per day (8%) and weekly (6%) (Graph 3). • With what frequency do men check their partner’s last connection? (VGT0002 and VGT0005)

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Graph 3 With what frequency do you check your partner’s last connection? Source Author compilation

12%

3 or more times per day Daily

8% 11%

More than one time per week Weekly

10% 6% 53%

Never Others

Graph 4 With what frequency do men check their partner’s last connection? Source Author compilation

8% 10%

2% 9%

3 or more times per days Daily More than one time per week Weekly

71% Never

Graph 5 With what frequency do woman check their partner’s last connection? Source Author compilation

3 or more times per days Daily

10% 14%

58%

12% 6%

More than one time per week Weekly Never

As we can see in Graph 4, 71% of men in our sample never check this partner’s last connection, 10% check it daily, 9% weekly, 8% three or more times per day and 2% more than once per week. • With what frequency do woman check their partner’s last connection? (VGT0002 and VGT0005) As well as men the majority the women in our sample never check their partner’s last connection (58%), but this percentage is lower than in the case of men (71%). Again, as in the men’s graph, the second most popular answer is daily being 14%, followed by more than once per week (12%) and 3 or more times per day (10%), being the least popular answer weekly (6%) (Graph 5).

Gender Violence and New Technologies Graph 6 In a normal situation, would it be a reason to start an argument if your partner has connected to WhatsApp without reading your last message and he/she has not answered you? Source Author compilation

383

6% 30%

Yes No Maybe 64%

Graph 7 In a normal situation, would it be a reason to start an argument if your partner has connected to WhatsApp without reading your last message and he/she has not answered you? Source Author compilation

Yes

Between 23 and 30 Between 19 and 22 Between 15 and 18 Between 11 and 14

No

Maybe

4%

66%

27% 3%

70%

23% 8% 33% 11%

58%

48% 40%

• In a normal situation, would it be a reason to start an argument that if partner has connected to WhatsApp without reading your last message and he/she has not answered you? (VGT0006) Regarding this question, most of our people surveyed have considered it would not be a reason to start an argument (64%), 30% of them think it may be a possible reason to start one and 6% would definitely start an argument (Graph 6). • In a normal situation, would it be a reason to start an argument if your partner has connected to WhatsApp without reading your last message and he/she has not answered you? (VGT0001 and VGT0006) As we can see in Graph 7 the results change depending on the age of the people surveyed. Whereas for 48% of participants between 11 and 14 years old it would be a reason for an argument, the number of “Yes” answers decreased as the participants age increased. As well as the number of participants whose answer is maybe. • In a normal situation, would it be a reason to start an argument if your partner has connected to WhatsApp and read your last message and he/she has not answered you? (VGT0007) Regards this question, there is an equality between the percentage of people whose answer is “No” and “Maybe” (42%), being “Yes” the least chosen answer (17%) (Graph 8).

384 Graph 8 In a normal situation, would it be a reason to start an argument if your partner has connected to WhatsApp and read your last message and he/she has not answered you? Source Author compilation

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42%

Maybe

42%

Yes No 17%

Graph 9 In a normal situation, would it be a reason to start an argument if your partner has connected to WhatsApp and read your last message and he/she has not answered you? Source Author compilation

Yes Between 23 and 30 Between 19 and 22 Between 15 and 18 Between 11 and 14

No

Maybe 46% 41%

12%

46% 41%

13% 26% 22%

37% 36% 48%

29%

• In a normal situation, would it be a reason to start an argument if your partner has connected to WhatsApp and read your last message and he/she has not answered you? (VGT0001 and VGT0007) As well as in Graph 9 regarding the participants’ age, we can see that percentage of yes answers decreased with older participants as well as the “maybe” option. Whereas the number of people surveyed whose answer is “no” increased breaking this trend. • In a normal situation, would it be a reason to start an argument if your partner uploaded a photo that you consider hot or sexy of her/himself? (VGT0008) As we can see in Graph 10, 66% of the people surveyed do not consider it a reason to start an argument, follow by the 24 that consider it may be a reason for a possible argument, and 11% considered it a reason to start a confrontation. • In a normal situation, would it be a reason to start an argument if your partner uploaded a photo with…? (VGT0009) Whereas the majority of our sample has not considered it a reason to start an argument (65.90%), 31.20% would start one if the photo is with someone of the opposite sex who they do not like, and the 11.70% with someone of the opposite sex they do not know (Graph 11). • In a normal situation, would it be a reason to start an argument if your partner has uploaded on social networks a photo with her/his ex? (VGT0010)

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Graph 10 In a normal situation, would it be a reason to start an argument if your partner uploaded a photo that you consider hot or sexy of her/himself? Source Author compilation

24% Maybe Yes 11% No

66%

Graph 11 In a normal situation, would it be a reason to start an argument if your partner uploaded a photo with…? Source Author compilation

It is not a reason to start an argument

someone of the oposit sex who you do not like

Someone of the opposite sex who you do not know

Graph 12 Would it be a reason to start an argument if your partner has a photo with her/his ex on social networks? Source Author compilation

65.90%

31.20%

11.70%

11% 22% Maybe Yes No 67%

As we can see in Graph 12, 67% of our people sampled answered “yes”, followed by 22% who answered “maybe” and 11% “no”. • Do you know someone who has uploaded personal information of him/her ex to social networks? (VGT0011) Regards this question, 68% of our sample did not know anyone who had uploaded information of him/her ex to social networks, whereas 27% knew someone and 5% may have known someone (Graph 13). • Have you ever felt bullied or harassed on social networks by your ex, his/her friends, family, etc.? (VGT0012)

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Graph 13 Do you know someone who has uploaded personal information of his/her ex to social networks? Source Author compilation

5% 27%

Maybe Yes No

68%

Graph 14 In a normal situation, would it be a reason to start an argument if Source Author compilation

5% 12% Maybe Yes No 83%

Graph 15 Have you ever felt bullied or harassed on social networks by your ex, his/her friends, family etc.? Source Author compilation

Yes

Between 23 and 30 Between 19 and 22 Between 15 and 18 Between 11 and 14

No

Maybe

12% 5% 13% 4.00% 14% 6.00% 14% 11%

83.70% 82% 80% 74%

According to our results 83% of our sample has never felt bullied or harassed, while 12% have felt this on some occasion and 5% may have felt this at some occasion in their lives (Graph 14). • In a normal situation, would it be a reason to start an argument if (VGT0002 and VGT0012) As we can see in Graph 15, depending on their age, our participants have felt bullied or harassed, the number of yes and maybe answers decreasing as our participant ages increase as are the no answers. • Indicate which of the following statements you agree with. (VGT0013)

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I do not agree with any of these sentences the jealousy is something normal in a romantic relationship

71.50%

15.10%

Love is the most important think, so you must give your partner your social network paswords.

3.70%

two people who love each other must think in the same way

3.10%

It is better the devil you know

15.70%

Graph 16 Indicate which of the following statements you agree with. Source Author compilation

Analysing Graph 16 we can see that 71.50% of our sample do not agree with any of the sentences, 15.70% with “It is better the devil you know”, 15.10% have chosen “Jealousy is something normal in a romantic relationship, 3.70% agree with “Love is the most important thing, so you must give your partner your social network passwords” and 3.10% of the people surveyed agreed with “Two people who love each other must think in the same way”. • Indicate which of the following statements you agree with. (You can choose more than one). (VGT0002 and VGT0013) As we can see in our survey results, women and men have chosen different statements, whereas the first statement is the most popular for both sexes, the women (81%) represent a higher proportion than the men (64%). In other statements the men’s representation is higher than the women; with the exception of the last statement “It is better something bad that you already know than something good you do not yet know (better the devil you know)” (Graph 17).

6 Discussion After a deep analysis of the results and the theory, we can find some similarities between some author’s theories and our results. A possible example of this is the relationship between the results of graph one where 100% of our sample have at least one of the social networks in the list and the theory of Bartina about how social networks have become the place where most of the communication between people takes place. Another correlation between the theory and the results is the number of people surveyed who will have an argument with their partner for something related to

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Men 81%

I do not agree with any of these sentences

64.00%

the jealousy is something normal in a romantic relationship

8%

the love is the most important think, so you must give your partner your social network paswords.

1.67% 3.57%

two people who like each other must think in the same way

1.34% 2.21%

It is better something bad that we have already know than something good we do not know jet

17.14%

15.41% 6.70%

Graph 17 Indicate which of the following statements you agree with. Source Author compilation

social networks (Graphs 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12) and the theory of Martín about how internet, mobile phones, social networks…play an important role in our lives having a remarkable influence on our behaviour, and how they can create new arguments between couples. The theory of Tejeira and Flores about how the easy access and general use of new technologies and new Apps for teenagers and children make them more vulnerable to more dangers and its relation with Graph 12 results where we can see how the younger the person is the more harassed he or she has felt, this is another example of these similarities. Also, in Graph 12 we can see how a part of our survey has chosen some of the proposed statements related with romantic myths and Ruiz’s theory about how the old forms of gender violence like romantic myths and new gender violence methods combine with each other. In Graph 13 we can see how more women than men accept some of our statements related to romantic myths and Kowalski’s theory about how girls and women are the most common victims of gender violence. An interesting results and case studies can be found in e.g. Maturo et al. (2016), Flaut et al. (2018) or Hoskova-Mayerova et al. (2017). A different approach to model interpersonal relations is presented also in Hoskova-Mayerova and Maturo (2016).

7 Conclusion In conclusion, we can say that some of our hypotheses are confirmed but others are not. On some occasions this confirmation is not even clear. With regards to our first one: The majority of people surveyed look at their partner’s social network profiles from daily to three or more times per day. We can say that it

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is not confirmed as the group of people whose answers have been “daily” or “three or more times per day” just represents 19% of our sample population. Regarding the second one: That men look more at their couple’s last connection time than women is also not confirmed. As the group of men who have chosen the answers “daily” or “there or more times per day” just represents 18% of the men’s sample, whereas the group of men who have chosen the answers “daily” or “three or more times per day” represents 19% of the women sample. However, we can confirm the third hypotheses: As the people surveyed get younger a higher would be percentage “yes” answers in questions six and seven. As the fourth one: As the people surveyed get younger more would have felt harassment on social networks. And in the final one: Men are going to choose more Romantic Myths than the women. As we can see in our last graph it is also confirmed. As a result of this we can say that as other authors have already stated, new technologies have affected our society and our social relationships and had a strong influence especially on younger people who have been more in contact with them and are more familiar with new technologies and in women who have always been more affected by gender violence. To prevent new risks and an increase in the gender violence problem, new generations need more education in this area and we should promote investigation in this specific area.

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Myths and Realities in the Employability of Young People Working in the Hotel Sector José Luis Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano and Elena Hornillo Araujo

Abstract In this chapter we present a research, developed in a framework of Ph.D. work, resulting a doctoral dissertation presented at the end of 2013. The methodology of qualitative orientation, focuses its attention on the voices of the young workers in the sector of the hotel sector from Andalusian area in Spain, as main source of information. The aim of this research was to analyze and describe the work and social situation of working youth in the hotel and tourism sector, describing both their profiles and beliefs, feelings and disappointments (tensions, insecurities, illusions, satisfactions, disappointments, frustrations, misunderstandings, etc.) in their work context, in order to know the most important landmark of their work experience. Understanding that such experience depends on multiple personal and professional factors and circumstances, as well as the result of the balance each person makes of what he expects and what he really finds in the vocation. It was therefore based on the principle that perceptions of experience may therefore be very complex and diverse in their contrasts and similarities. But in any case, it has been a small-scale research work, with the collaboration of the contributions of 260 hard-working young persons in the hotel and tourism sector. Keywords Employability · Job · Qualitative research · Youth · Hotel and tourism sector

1 Introduction Tourism in Andalusia is one of the most productive sectors and most relevant social phenomena of our Community. According to data from “System of Analysis and J. L. S. Sánchez-Serrano (B) · E. H. Araujo Department of Social Work and Social Services, Pablo de Olavide University, Seville, Spain e-mail: [email protected] E. H. Araujo e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_29

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Statistics of Tourism of Andalusia (SAETA)”,1 Andalusia has reached in 2016 “the best results of its history in the hotel movement” which makes it “continue to lead the ranking of overnight stays of nationals, with a participation share of 21.2%” (Appendix). Continuing with the same source, the analysis and statistics system estimates that in 2016 hotel establishments in Andalusia have employed an average of 32,900 people, representing an increase of 6.7% over the previous year. Trying to meet new ways of understanding the social, educational and political fabric in which Andalusian youth are involved and understanding that in the experience that young people perceive of their employment situation, there are direct consequences related to life-long training, working conditions, attitudes, etc. We have proposed in this research “to listen to the voices of young Andalusians linked to the hotel industry and tourism sector” in order to understand and describe their particular experiences, thus approaching the professional development needs of young workers in the hotel and tourism sector. Not only analyzing the descriptions of observable behaviors, but trying to understand the emotional, social and productive aspects of the people that are part of the framework of this labor market. Among the authors of the qualitative tradition there are discrepancies in terms of approaching the study with or without previous questions. In our case, following Goetz and LeCompte (1988) and Miles and Huberman (1994) we have chosen to start by defining some general questions about research, clarifying our interests. But, what have been the issues that have guided our study? 1. To deepen in the “radiography” of the profiles and characteristics of the Andalusian youth in the hotel industry and tourism sector. 2. To know the conceptions that young workers maintain about personal and social development in the hotel industry and tourism sector. 3. Identify and compare experiences, obstacles and conflicts that occur in the development of the different occupations of the hotel industry and tourism sector. 4. Analyze to what extent and what circumstances motivate or guide the choice of young people in the development of occupations within the sector. 5. Correlating and identifying divisions in the occupations of the hotel and tourism sector, taking into account variables of gender, ethnicity and age. Our main objective or purpose will be to describe, understand and interpret what young busy and unemployed workers in the hotel and tourism sector think about their employment situation.

1 http://www.andalucia.org/es/profesional/estadisticas-e-investigacion-de-mercados/,

de 2017, accessed March 2017.

20 de febrero

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2 Dilemmas, Context and Conceptual Framework Stanicek (2011), points out what he calls “The scissors effect”, as the lack of symmetry between the employment of young and old people as a direct consequence of the crisis. Suggesting that youth is the most vulnerable group in the current crisis. • Youth disproportionately maintained over time Young people in Spain, from a sociological perspective, are considered by some authors (Zubero 2000, p. 28) as in “waiting time”, concluding in a disproportionately long stage: “They constitute a whole army of cultural, ethical and cultural pre-adult citizens. Politically free and in full citizenship rights but socially enslaved to the subsidy of unemployment and family support of those who can not be liberated”. There is a question that absolutely conditions the practical possibility of that change of social status that supposes the step of the youth to the adult age: the possession of a stable remunerated work (more or less). This is the condition to be able to consider a couple, the constitution of an independent home or the procreation. That is why for a certain generation youth may never end, because they will never be able to access a stable job that opens the doors to the free assumption of social responsibilities: from this perspective, they will be “young people” of 30 years of age, years. Another point to debate is related to age as a reference of vital demarcation. Chronologically there have been difficulties to define the lines that define youth as the group grows due to the prolongation of their situation towards more extensive ages and is exceeding 30 or even 34 years (García-Montalvo et al. 1997; Garrido and Requena 1996; Schwartz 1989). In the development of the personal biography of each young person, influences with an important influence factors linked to the social origin and the qualification or training for the employment of the person, being decisive for their progressive autonomy. Prieto et al. (1994) establish economic independence as the central, nucleating and definitive dimension to achieve promotion to adult society. This dimension is the one that gives way to individual autonomy and makes possible, therefore, the emancipation of the family. From this we can deduce that the trajectory directed to the abandonment of the condition of young person is articulated fundamentally around a process of incorporation to the employment, to a process of transition to the active life. Different aspects, training, work, family and social life, interact and combine giving rise to a biographical succession of social positions with very specific forms. The transition to work is, consequently, the vertebral dimension to define the concept of “Youth”. This will last whatever it takes to get a stable and continuous work and will culminate with the assumption of two achievements: full autonomy with respect to the paternal family and the identification and location of the person in the profession (Santana 2002, p. 66).

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There is no doubt that we organize all our time, personal and social, around work. If you ask us “what are you?” We do not answer “I am a good person” or “I am very fond of mountain” but “I am a cook” or “I am a teacher”. Another perspective on how to approach the study of young people is how different authors treat the concept of youth, in terms of the difference between young men and young women. Indisputably, the concept is not neutral and we start from socially constructed gender differences that differentiate roles, responsibilities, conditions, opportunities and needs. Gallardo (2008) makes a review of the literature, allowing introducing and assessing the importance of the gender perspective to the study of youth, given the tendency to equate the reality of young women with men of the same age. In this sense, it is found in some authors (among them Allerbeck and Rosemayr 1979; Sagrera 1992; Brito 1998; Duarte 2000) allusions to the theme sex or gender to establish a system of differentiation in the definition of youth. A dimension that considers youth as a learning period in which basic systems of social inequality are internalized and reworked as a particular moment of confluence of diverse structures of inequality (of gender, social origin or ethnicity, if applicable). • There is no robot portrait of the young Pérez (2003, p. 21) points out that each juvenile generation is composed of very different individuals and, therefore, there is no “young guy”, nor is it possible to offer “a robot portrait”. For the author, youth is but a reflection of the society itself in which the same problems, needs, interests and values coexist. Considering the socio-cultural, socio-educational and socio-economic level that each young person has, it is also difficult to establish a homogeneous description. If it can be affirmed, in the words of the author, that in general, young people have a high dependence on the family, while the permanence in the home of origin is maintained until advanced ages, due to the difficulties they have to reach an autonomy, that allows them to realize their own life project. Pérez Serrano (2003) points out, as a remarkable fact, that for a few decades, young people have been slower to have the necessary resources to become independent from the family home. This delay has to do with factors such as: shortage of employment, precarious wages, economic insecurity linked to job instability and the difficulty of acquiring a home of their own. The labor market, which is increasingly restricted, selective and unstable, gives rise to the fact that the most educated generation in history, remains inactive or takes advantage of precarious working conditions or below their qualifications. Similarly, young people, as a reflection of society, in general have very high consumer habits, thus generating a common feature. The author draws attention to the desire that young people have to live different experiences, to constantly change scenarios (both day and night) and manifest an intense geographic mobility. • Employability versus employment stability When we speak today of “employability” at all, it leads to the achievement of a “stable” status in the labor market. Although there is no word that has reached a generalized acceptance, we could continue talking about “professional transition”

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because, as Rose (1987) points out, it corresponds to the idea of a transit, of an intermediate state with a certain duration. In this process, it will produce a step from the situations of “precariousness” typical of temporary contracts to a progressive “stabilization.” In 2016, in Andalusia, 95.90% of the contracts made in the tourism sector are temporary.2 The unemployment rate among young people has reached painfully high levels, particularly with low levels of education. There are two crucial political priorities to improve employment prospects for youth in Spain (Wölfl 2013). First of all in the short term, there is an urgent need to guide the programs of active labor policies designed for the most disadvantaged young people, providing more help in finding employment in the current labor market. Second, the current crisis is an opportunity to address some of the structural weaknesses in the labor market. This means, in particular, reforms to prevent them from abandoning education at a very early stage and to improve the school and transition work of young people. The key issues are better skills acquired adapting them to those requested by companies, establishing an effective system of vocational training, and reducing the barriers of demand, the duality of the labor market in particular and a rigid collective bargaining system, which both prevented an efficient allocation of labor resources in the past and a flexible adjustment during the crisis. Addressing the weaknesses of the Spanish youth labor market, it is also necessary to propose the improvement of long-term employment prospects (Scarpetta et al. 2010). In Spain, the time needed to find a first permanent job is significantly longer than in other European countries (Dolado et al. 2012), even before the crisis. One of the aspects introduced in the hiring aid developed by active employment policies is the increase in employment incentives, whose objective is to improve the adaptation of people to jobs. In Andalusia, it is materialized in regulated strategies, approved by the Andalusian Government in dialogue with the most representative economic and social agents, and in accordance with the European Commission’s own strategy and the structural funds “Europe 2020: a strategy for smart growth, sustainable and inclusive”, whose objective is to reduce structural unemployment and promote quality employment. The main goal of the European Union, on which the Member States should base their national objectives, taking into account their initial national positions and circumstances, is to achieve an employment rate of women and men between the ages of 20 and 20, and the 67 years of 75% by 2020, increasing the participation of young people, older workers with low qualifications and better integrating immigrants in a regular situation. In 2016, according to the National Institute of Statistics, Andalucía stood at 57.47% of activity rate in 2016.3

2 http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/servicioandaluzdeempleo/web/argos/descargaInforme.do?

action=downloadInforme&idInforme=434107, accessed March 2017. 3 http://www.ine.es/infografias/tasasepa/desktop/tasas.html?t=2&lang=es,

accessed March 2017.

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• The Andalusian hotel and tourism market demands “greater demands for competitiveness” The strategy of any company is to achieve a long-term sustainable competitive advantage for your business. This advantage is evident in its ability to offer a differentiated product with respect to its competitors, or in its capacity to obtain goods and services at lower prices. In addition to this strategic foundation, the environment of permanent technological transformations, the constant changes and economic events that have taken place in recent years have modified the horizon of the world tourism sector and are facing new challenges and opportunities. Reverting also in new demands in the matter of competences for the workers. Converting the analysis of the role of human capital within the hotel and tourism sector into an indispensable competitive strategy. Where the trend is increasingly heterogeneous demand, with greater demands for personalized attention and quality in the service received. Added to the changes in lifestyles and values. • Quality and working conditions Given the current situation, quality is considered as a basic element to promote competitiveness. In this sense, we can not forget the close relationship between the concepts of productivity, competitiveness and quality. We understand quality as a multidimensional concept, recognizing a close relationship between productivity and quality of work, following the first statements of the European Commission4 “Productivity growth depends on the quality of physical capital, improvements in the skills of the labour force, technological advances and new ways of organising. Productivity growth is the principal source of economic growth”. We understand the term quality of work life, in its double sense as the authors Poza and Prior (1988) cited in Gamero (2003, p. 35) define it, in its external dimension as the way in which work experience occurs under objective conditions for example; occupational safety and health, work, occupational health, etc. and in its internal dimension, as the working person in subjective conditions lives it. It is therefore a multidimensional concept, since it takes into account the subjective and objective aspects which allows that there is no bias to what refers to the real work situation.

3 Methodology In our professional context, the qualitative research model gives us knowledge of unique and unique phenomena that at least help to better understand reality, and as a maximum goal to improve it. 4 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=LEGISSUM%3An26027,

2017.

accessed March

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These guidelines emphasizes some aspect, but they all share common principles, as pointed out by Guba and Lincoln (1982), which can be summarized in the following: • Multiple conception of reality: from this assumption, reality is not unique but there are many realities that have to be studied from a holistic perspective. • The simultaneity of the phenomena and interactions in the social context make it impossible to distinguish between cause and effect (thus differentiating from the linear process in experimental investigations). Therefore, natural situations are studied (within spatio-temporal and contextual coordinates). • The objective of all research is the understanding of phenomena: understanding means capturing internal relationships and investigating the intentionality of actions. This is obtained through the perceptions of the participants and the contexts where they are developed. • The aim of the research is to develop an ideographic knowledge of the social reality, which allows us not to establish universal generalities but concrete and specific generalities that emerge through the data obtained from a concrete reality. • The researcher and the research object are interrelated, converge and interact with each other. The researcher thus becomes the first instrument of data collection. • The values, beliefs and attitudes are implicit in the research, which are reflected throughout the research process selecting paradigms, theories, etc. Thus, as pointed out by Goetz and LeCompte (1988), all research can move on a continuum of different dimensions (induction/deduction, generalization/verification, construction/enumeration, subjectivity/objectivity), which determine two different poles of development and study of Research: qualitative research and quantitative research. If something differentiates qualitative research from experimental research, it is the process of developing it. The different phases of the design of a qualitative research do not happen in a linear way as in experimental investigations, on the contrary there is a permanent relationship between data collection, research objectives and theoretical bases, sampling and data analysis shows Colás (1998). The qualitative research process is therefore a continuum that is characterized by the flexibility in the design of the different phases that integrate it and between which a constant feedback is given. The design remains open and subject to the changes that occur throughout the investigation. Designing means making decisions throughout the research process and all the phases involved. In our research, data collection and data analysis, has been developed throughout the research process, there is no specific time for it, as it has given us (Stake 1998). Regarding the techniques and strategies for collecting information, they have been designed from a double perspective: quantitative and qualitative. Using different techniques and information collection tools. Following Ruiz Olabuénaga (2003, p. 327) in the sense posed by triangulation: “Triangulation is an attempt to promote new forms of research that enrich the use of qualitative methodology with the combined resource of qualitative and vice versa”.

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We have been pursuing, through the collection of information, to make it possible to know the meanings of specific contexts and situations and, on the other, to allow participants to express their opinions and perceptions about what happens to them. In particular, the information collection instruments that we have used in our study are three: the questionnaire, the interviews and the discussion groups. Next, each of them is detailed. 1. Semistructured interviews: 64 young people from the sector of Autonomous Community of Andalusia were interviewed. • Identification of the company: information related to a series of characteristics of the company such as the number of branches it has in Andalusia, number of employees that form it, the age segment of the workers and activity of the sector to which it is assigned, dedicate. • Personal situation of surveyed: information regarding the workers: sex and age, marital status, nationality, studies carried out, type of housing and family burden. • Employment situation of surveyed: we could say that this is one of the most significant dimensions of the questionnaire. As we can also see in the number, complexity and depth of the items formulated. These are: training and experience in the sector, access to the job, mobility and change of employment and residence outside of Andalusia and Spain, need for training in social skills, business management, etc., occupational risks, knowledge of the Workers’ Statute, of the Collective Agreement and legal representation. 2. Questionnaires: structured and designed for the abstraction of more concrete information for research, 959 questionnaires were sent to the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, of which 206 completed questionnaires were received. The dimensions have also been three: identification of the company; data of the worker (their age, sex, marital status, nationality, studies, work experience, housing, salary); union analysis (knowledge of the workers’ status, the availability of said statute, knowledge of the collective agreement for the application of their company and legal representation of the workers in their company). 3. Discussion Groups: This is the technique that has introduced the most elements of qualitative analysis, giving it a much deeper and richer vision. The participants were selected according to the criteria and information of the research, being composed of young people working in this sector. The number did not exceed 8 participants in each province of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia. Regarding the techniques of information analysis, we have had Miles and Huberman (1994) as reference in the process, following the following steps: • Transcription of all the information coming from the DISCUSSION GROUPS Overall reading of all the collected material as well as the transcriptions made, with the aim of having an overview of each case study, familiarizing ourselves with the language of the protagonists, or extracting the treated topics and their most significant components.

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• Encoding information that consisted in assigning a code to each piece of text with information unit. Using a double coding for it: 1. We resorted to an analysis of thematic coding, in which we differentiated units of meaning (fragments of text with thematic unit), to which we assigned a code, which was related to one of the categories established in the script of the discussion group. The code system has been constructed through deductive and inductive processes, since we started from the categories scheme that guided the development of the groups and we deepened the analysis with the reflection of the data that we were labeling in a more inductive way. 2. A second interpretative coding, taken from the proposal of Guba and Lincoln (1982), selecting four coders: (a) Description, (b) Positive assessment, (c) Problem, and (d) Principle, which reflect more than a thematic content, the assessment, perception and interpretation of reality that subjects do. Once the coding was done, we proceeded to classify the different codes in the established categories, being able to check the coverage of the categories for all the codes derived inductively from the analysis of the interviews. For content analysis, a mixed coding process has been followed: inductive and deductive, which led us to determine the system of categories and codes to be used for the analysis of the material collected. We previously established a system of categories that we were completing and adapting as we did the coding. This process consisted basically in the reading of all the collected material (transcription of the discussion groups) to determine and establish inductively the codes and categories of the same. In such a way that the system of categories and subcategories used in the data analysis has resulted: 1. Experience: statements regarding the practice and/or exercise of jobs. 2. Lifelong training: manifestations concerning … 2.1. Formal training: descriptions linked to the field of training within an organized, structured and explicitly designated learning context. Initiatives leading to a certificate. 2.2. Informal training: descriptions linked to the scope of activities of daily life related to work or other contexts. Training within an organized, structured and explicitly designated learning context. They are not initiatives leading to a certificate. 3. Professional eventuality: allusions to the eventuality “adopted” in the development of the professions of the sector under study. 4. Professional career: statements made about progress processes, individually as recognition and evaluation of professional development in terms of training, experience and compliance with company objectives. 5. Economic compensation: descriptions of how the professional salary remuneration is perceived in exchange for the provision of services to the company.

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6. Type of contract: references to the contractual modalities between the parties that sign it. 7. Working conditions: statements referring to … 7.1. Motivation: general attitudes towards work. 7.2. Psychosocial risks: perceptions of the participants in relation to the harmful influence on their health resulting from the interactions between content, organization, work management and environmental conditions, on the one hand, and the functions and needs of workers, on the other. 7.3. Economic remuneration: descriptions of how the professional salary remuneration is perceived in exchange for the provision of services to the company. 8. Labor mobility: aspects related to the movement of workers in the labor market. 9. Trade union activity: allusions to the defense and promotion of social, economic and professional interests related to work activity. 10. Social image: descriptions of how the worker perceives that others value their occupation.

4 Results Concluding with the results of the survey on the professional profiles, beliefs, experiences and professional situations of the Andalusian youth working in the hotel sector and once synthesized all the information obtained through the surveys: – The age brackets of the participating youth are extended in the range of 31–35 years, with the largest number of people represented in our study. And despite their youth, an average of 45% have stated in their marital status to be married. Although we speak of a context of “extreme economic fragility” of working youth, 76.6% of participants live emancipated and 62.9% claim to have family responsibilities. – In general, 46% have stated that they are satisfied with the performance of their occupation, not considering it a “simple” source of “temporary” income. Singularly 54.9% of them believe that social recognition is positive or very positive. We can infer that beyond the monetary equivalent, there are other psychological, social, ethical ingredients, cultural, etc. that may be influencing such perceptions. With the above result, if you can also infer a correlation with the interest shown in the statements gathered to continue the professional career in the sector, a total of 62.1% of people. What shows again some extended satisfaction in the working life of the selected sample. The most valued profession in the repertoire provided was that of “head chef”. Changes in the environment or the problematic of the economic situation, among others, mean that workers perceive training needs in their professional skills in an emergent way, that is, those that arise in the development of their profession. Almost

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half of the respondents consider that their salary is proportional to the performance of their activity. Another extrinsic variable in which we have tried to measure their satisfaction is the working hours and hours, finding asymmetric responses, 38.7%, have manifested high levels of satisfaction, while 42% are little or not at all satisfied. – Youth of sector does not seem to be inclined to occupational mobility. Andalusian youth of the sector continues to be rooted in its family environment and residential geography. This is the case for the different cases raised, 15% would be willing to work outside the province where they reside; less than 10% would propose it outside the CCAA and almost 40% would not work outside of Spain. – Regarding the regulation of their activity in labor contracts, people have declared that the majority has a duration of more than 3 months but less than 1 year (70.6%). It is noteworthy that not even half of the percentage of young people surveyed has an indefinite contract. – We asked the interviewed people through which media they accessed their job, providing four options, these are: own media and traditional social networks (friends, family, etc.); public resources (State Employment Service); ETT; media (press, internet, etc.). Well, 84% have answered their own media and traditional social networks and only 6.4% have used media. It is remarkable if we take into account that we live immersed in the 2.0 information society, but it is still a reality not accessible to a large group of citizens. It leads us to determine a contradictory approach, where perhaps the need for greater familiarity and learning of other means and more technological resources that offer other opportunities may be latent. In the analysis of the results of the discussion groups we have taken into account the technique enunciated in previous paragraphs. Transcribed information was double coding, thematic and interpretative. We recall in this scheme how the information was categorized for its analysis and interpretation. “The particularities of the profiles …” In general, in the discussion groups we have found heterogeneous profiles. People who have affirmed to work in the sector to be able to face the cost of their studies, in few cases by vocation, graduates as they have not found another professional exit. In the latter case, as a “comfortable work outlet”. Not referring to the proper exercise of the activity because in many occasions it requires an important physical effort, but in the ease to be able to find a “chance” of labor insertion without demanding requirements. In certain occupations of the hotel trade, especially, not being a sector proportionally demanding professional skills and qualifications, although there are own titles, students use these occupations, in particular waiter as a “false door” to obtain a first job, only as a source of income. Other participants speak of “professional intrusion” of people, of students who do not conceive their professional career in the sector and who are forced to look for a “temporary source of income”.

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In the current changing market, where not only the traditional variables are taken into account through the professionals resumes, as is the case with the professional trajectory and studies, youth is aware that the labor market other aspects such as atypical recommendations, talents, expectations, attitudes and skills that differentiate from other candidates, youth can value this experience with a more self-critical and positive vision … Linked to this temporality of profiles with or without training, people have expressed positions that express negative struggles towards the groups that are inserted in the sector transitorily. As has been gathered in the questionnaires and interviews conducted, also in the various discussion groups have also raised the formative gaps not only between the training expected to develop the position and the actual training level of the person who develops it but also skills, abilities and attitudes to develop correctly and responsibly his position in the sector. Aware that there are few opportunities and many limitations of training in the sector, we have tried to gather what are the most important training needs for the protagonists themselves, and in this respect there have been no discrepancies with the results we have found with the previous techniques information collection instruments. These have been: • • • • •

Training in customer service. Language training. Training in planning, management of the company. Handling of instruments typical of the sector. Training in occupational risk prevention.

Another difficulty has been the intrusion of service companies hired by the sector or temporary work agencies for certain portfolio of specific activities as in the case of cleaning or catering services. This phenomenon also seems to be affecting the planning of the training since the contracting company in this case is not concerned about the training commitment, since it would be the obligation of the contracted company. Likewise, the itinerant staff of outsourced companies describe the control of service quality as a barrier, stating that a certain business sector pays more attention to economic savings than to the control of service quality. It also appears in the conversations the investment of time that the workers have to carry out in forming the temporary novices. Companies need to actively “value” their human resources, and what better way than through training, a result that would result in greater productivity, professional satisfaction, … ultimately will revert to benefits for the company as a whole. The perspective and feelings of the workers who have participated in the discussion groups suggest that they are deprived of this action by the company. Some of the people who have participated in the discussion group understand the timetables, since they usually plan outside the working day. What requires “extra time of the worker”. In this case it is the worker personnel who must consider the profitability, the benefits or disadvantages associated with it.

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In general, the discussion groups have justified the lack of experience and needs of professional training in the sector, stating as causes of this situation the lack of permanence of the workers in the sector. “How they look and how they see us …” We understand the social image as a “social construction”, knowing that in this social construction many factors intervene. But we were especially worried about the beliefs and stereotypes that, although of course being modifiable, can be specified in the context of our study of the population on which we have focused. Regarding the description that participants make about their image as professionals of the sector, two perspectives should be taken into account, their own image “as I see myself” and “how I understand that society sees me”. First, we will describe how they see themselves as professionals in the sector. In this sense, we have found different versions, but the trend seems to be very stereotyped, with attributes and negative values influenced by what society thinks. It can be said that there is a certain permeability in the construction of the professional image. Principle-R: I think that what society thinks more than referring customers to the possibility in general … for example, I’ll give you my example of my children who are in high school, as the teacher asks your mother, what does it work? Well, my mother works, she’s a doctor in the hospital. And my children, mother, I am ashamed to say that you are a waitress in a hotel. R2: Well, I’m not ashamed to say it. A: I’m talking about … my children … they say it. Because children are very cruel. R2: We are talking about society. What are you a floor maid? Yes Yes Yes. But it is something less than a lawyer or a doctor. Yes, yes, yes, yes, and my mother, doctor, and your waitress … Society does not … But I do not see it there. A: I really think that what you say I am working cleaning in a hotel society does not value it, says, “uy”, that is cleaning and the other is in a law firm because it is a lawyer, or simply a secretary It is much more valued than us cleaning. That I am not ashamed because all my life, it is a decent and very worthy job. (Granada) Principle-R: Hotel sector does not like anyone, I believe that whoever is there is because he has nothing else, until he finds a better thing. (Almería) Participants also recognize that there are prejudices that they did not know before starting their profession in the sector, which they have been aware of through their personal experiences, through the judgments made by other people, through their reflections, observations and the perception of the own identity constructed in the interactions that participate. Vocational training and qualification is an attribute that is also closely linked to the “deformation” of its own image and that of society. Even when describing occupations linked to a professional degree.

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“The sector without requirement of experience at the head of occupations …” Regarding the dialogue we have had on professional experience, we must observe that it requires a certain level of introspection and evaluation of where I come from, where I am going, what resources I have, in what context I develop my work and what I need to do move along. Unfortunately it is a sector of staff swinging, in which for the moment a high degree of professional experience has not been demanded, so unanimously dominates the argument that it is the “shelter” of young people with no previous experience. Where his step in the east sector is easy, brief and transitory. The lack of previous experience in reality and practice meets all the initial conditions to equally associate it with the decrease and even lack of quality in the development of skills and abilities required in the occupation. It could be affirmed therefore that if anyone can access the hostel sector, there will be a decrease in professionalism and the quality of the service. Another problem associated with lack of experience is that it requires extra effort on the part of the work team, in particular by experienced workers. Circumstance that does not favor the good environment or the experience in the environment and professional performance. Regarding professional careers in the sector, regardless of the crisis context that we have been living in recent years, we have found that samples have hardly been found. Before, the development of the professional career was linked to the improvement of employability to professional specialization, today is a “long career” with difficult access. In the development of the occupation you can gain experience but if the acquisition of knowledge is limited, there will be few opportunities to grow, to demonstrate and identify your potential and professional recognition. Occupational safety and health is another aspect that has emerged in the conversations within the groups regarding work experience. It is a sector with psychological pressure, with risks of manipulation of instruments and work equipment, tasks that require continuous physical effort such as inadequate ergonomic postures, manipulation of elements of continuous weight, long and/or night shifts, … etc. that they do that if they are not prevented or not corrected, increase the degree of dissatisfaction/frustration of the experience in the occupation. Labor union? yes! when i have a problem … Level of workers union participation could be summarized in a few items that the participants have affirmed: • • • •

Low participation. Young people are disenchanted with union movements. Young people keep insufficient commitments. They join only when they have concrete work problems.

Labor mobility without responsibilities … Do young people perceive labor mobility as an opportunity or an obstacle? We have obtained two types of statements, the first is that mobility is an opportunity for young

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people who do not have family responsibilities, and the second is that people who have family responsibilities perceive it as an obstacle.

5 Conclusions The hotel and tourism industry to which we have addressed and invited to participate in our study have been categorized into five categories: hotel and similar; tourist accommodation and other short distance; food and beverage services; restaurants and food stalls and Other accommodations. Being in its majority of more than 100 workers those that have participated, percentage 33%. Considering a highly valued participation taking into account that tourism and hospitality in Andalusia is considered a sector of micro-enterprises, SMEs and self-employed. In the first quarter (2017), a total of 153,900 contracts in the tourism sector were registered in Andalusia.5 In this way, there has been an increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year of 5.08%. Also, 94.93% of the contracts made are temporary. However, they were registered in Andalusia 7801 permanent contracts. Of the total contracts formalized in Andalusia in this period, 12.30% occurred in this sector. In the first quarter (2017), a total of 153,900 contracts in the tourism sector were registered in Andalusia. In this way, there has been an increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year of 5.08%. Also, 94.93% of the contracts made are temporary. However, they were registered in Andalusia 7801 permanent contracts. Of the total contracts formalized in Andalusia in this period, 12.30% occurred in this sector. Training remains one of the most important factors to maintain and get a job, youth should represent the main source of workers with new skills and the transition from education to the labor market continues to be one of the main concerns of society today. The importance given to the qualification, together with the difficulties of finding jobs at other levels and the growth of the university system, are factors that place a part of young people to use the education system as a mechanism to delay the incorporation into the job market, that is favored by the exigencies in the hiring and by the entry of qualified foreign labor that demands of the native young people more preparation. From the framework of the results of our research and the reality studied by other studies, we can infer relevant facts. With the increase of more tourists, Andalusia has the best results in overnight stays in the whole of Spain, having a favorable impact on the Andalusian hotel and tourist industry, although it does not have to have an equal impact on the workers who end up in the last resort, more harmed if it does not translate into quality jobs. 5 http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/servicioandaluzdeempleo/web/argos/descargaInforme.do?

action=downloadInforme&idInforme=443144, accessed March 2017.

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One aspect that we must stress repeatedly is the presence of people with low qualifications in the sector. Of the participants in the three techniques of data collection around 31% have been people with primary education unfinished and around 20% with middle education. And in a lower percentage, but also remarkable, the presence of young students or graduates working in the sector on many occasions in a submerged economy. Recent evidence suggests that people who are inserted in the sector carry unquestionable training needs both those linked to formal training and professional qualifications themselves. It is the participants’ own voices that declare their disappointment in this respect, with a significant that is projected in personal and professional dissatisfaction. What in the chapter dedicated to the results of research we have called “formative gaps” in one of the sections, must be understood in the set of conclusions as one of the most remarkable results to be taken into account in possible actions derived from this study. The vast majority are basic skills such as attention and communication with the client, the use of instruments specific to the occupation or new technologies. As well as administrative competences related to business management, and one with significant significance for the workers themselves, the lack of knowledge of second languages; 92% of the population under investigation, would like to learn a second language to better develop their work. All this linked to the temporality and lack of permanence in the sector of many people that make compatible with training that in its majority is not related to the sector. This fact, with an environment in the words of the workers of a poorly aware business sector in which the investment in the qualification of its employees is directly related to productivity, generates an important feeling of insecurity and vital disappointment in the worker himself/a that has been expressed and manifested as a negative experience “apparently” outside the control itself, with passive attitudes and acceptance of the circumstances. There is no more to say that around 60% of working youth in the hospitality and tourism sector state that the training offer is not adapted to their professional needs, or therefore to the specialization of production. The “work climate”, understood as the human and physical environment in which the work is developed, is another conception that emerged, felt and lived by the voices of the workers of the tourism and hospitality sector, as an obstacle and/or conflict in the “space” of their occupations. Repetitive expressions in their meaning as “the hotel industry does not want anybody”, denote a high degree of possible “forced elections”. What leads us to understand that many of the young people who have participated in our study have come to the occupation with low consideration of their professional vocation. Although there are also those who have confirmed to be satisfied with the performance of their occupation, not considering it as a “source of income”. Another aspect related to the work climate that has arisen in the study of the data analyzed, is dissatisfaction with the organization of work. Some aspects with the management, others with the schedules and working days, the relations with the companions/as and very suggestive with the norms of prevention of labor risks. The

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work climate is also highly affected by the youth who reconcile studies with punctual work in the hospitality and tourism sector, which is perceived by the workers affiliated to the sector as a “professional interference”. It has found a striking use of temporary employment agencies and service companies, especially in the field of hotels and accommodation that leads to an abundant fluctuation of personnel that is perceived, felt and experienced as a conflict by the permanent staff, having constant oscillations in their responsibilities and understanding that they should not attribute them, such as repetitive teaching situations to colleagues who enter to leave in the short term. This transience leads both to workers with more secure contractual conditions such as discontinuous fixed personnel and those who are incorporated in the framework of the underground economy into very precarious working conditions and climates. Regarding their social position and relations between equals within the professions, distinguishing in this last aspect well-trained and/or qualified people with those who are not. Therefore, an underlying stigma is intellectual-cognitive. Another discrediting stigma for the construction of self-image and for society is related to working conditions and their performance, the condition of customer service places it in unequal conditions against others pejoratively. We have found, in general, insufficiently mature attitudes given the evolution of the labor market. Although apparently in the province of Almeria is where attitudes have been found more resistant to labor mobility, it may be because historically it has been considered the farthest province, in fact in all provinces have not found high percentages of acceptance or opening provisions. Rather, it has been forged in the young people of the sector as a necessity in the face of an opportunity for professional development. Acknowledgements The work presented in this chapter has been supported by the Current status of the employment situation of young Andalusians in the hotel and tourism sector; directed by the Ph.D. Mr. José Luis Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano, Ph.D. Mr. José Luis Malagón Bernal and Ph.D. Mr. Evaristo Barrera Algarín.

Appendix See Tables 1 and 2.

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Table 1 Overnight stays of nationals registered in the country in the year 2016 Spanish overnights

ENE-DIC 16

ENE-DIC 16

1

Andalucía

24,051,682

% VAR 2.4

CUOTA (%) 21.2

2

Cataluña

16,580,036

5.6

14.6

3

C. Valenciana

15,569,183

2.5

13.7

4

Madrid

10,416,584

−2.2

9.2

5

Canarias

7,820,267

0.2

6.9

6

Baleares

4,496,538

−5.8

4.0

Total

España

113,701,332

3.1

100.0

Source Monthly report: situation of the hotel movement of Andalucía Nº 240—November 2016 Table 2 International overnight stays registered in the country in 2016 Forein overnights

ENE-DIC 16

ENE-DIC 16

% VAR

CUOTA (%)

1

Andalucía

27,473,441

13.1

12.7

2

Cataluña

38,765,011

6.9

17.9

3

C. Valenciana

12,673,328

12.3

5.9

4

Madrid

11,686,328

5.8

5.4

5

Canarias

61,718,495

10.1

28.5

6

Baleares

53,893,188

8.1

24.9

Total

España

216,332,683

9.3

100.0

Source Monthly report: situation of the hotel movement of Andalucía Nº 240—November 2016

References Colás, P.: Métodos y técnicas cualitativas de investigación en psicopedagogía. En: Buendía, L., Colás, P., Hernández, F. (eds.) Métodos de investigación en Psicopedagogía, pp. 251–283. McGraw Hill, Madrid (1998) Dolado, J., Felgueroso, F., Jensen, M., Fuentes, A., Wölfl, A.: Youth Labour Market Performance in Spain and Its Determinants—A Micro-Level Perspective. OECD Economics Department Working Papers, Paris (2012) Gallardo, J.: Juventud, trabajo, desempleo e identidad: un enfoque psicosocial. Tesis doctoral sin editar (2008) García-Montalvo, J., Palafox, J., Peiró, J.M., Prieto, F.: La inserción laboral de los jóvenes en la Comunidad Valenciana. Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas. Fundació Bancaixa, Valencia (1997) Garrido, L., Requena, M.: La emancipación de los jóvenes en España. Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales, Madrid (1996) Goetz, J.P., LeCompte, M.D.: Etnografía y diseño cualitativo en investigación educativa. Morata, Madrid (1988) Guba, E., Lincoln, Y.: Effective Evaluation. Improving the Usefulness of Evaluation Results Through Responsive and Naturalistic Approaches. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco (1982) Miles, M.B., Huberman, A.M.: Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook, 2ª ed. Sage, Newbury Park, CA (1994)

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Pérez Serrano, G.: Pedagogía Social. Construcción científica e intervención práctica. Narcea, Madrid (2003) Poza, J., Prior, J.: Calidad de vida en el trabajo: un estudio empírico. En: Libro de simposios, I Congreso Iberoamericano y III Nacional de Psicología del Trabajo y de las Organizaciones. Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos, Madrid (1988) Prieto, C., Francescutti, P., Galiano, S.J., Martín, A.M., Martínez, C., Rodríguez, P.R., Sanchez, R., Vázquez, F.A.: Los trabajadores y sus condiciones de trabajo. Ediciones HOAC, Madrid (1994) Rose, J.: En busca de empleo. Formación, paro, empleo. Ministerio de Trabajo y Seguridad Social, Madrid (1987) Ruiz Olabuénaga, J.I.: Metodología de investigación cualitativa. Universidad de Deusto (2003) Scarpetta, S., Sonnet, A., Manfredi, T.: Rising Youth Unemployment During the Crisis: How to Prevent Negative Long-Term Consequences on a Generation? OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, 106. OECD, Paris (2010) Schwartz, B.: La inserción profesional y sociales de los jóvenes. Rev. Estud. Juventud, 55–192 (1989) Stake, R.E.: Investigación con estudio de casos, cap. IV. Morata, Madrid (1998) Stanicek, B.: The Scissors Effect of the Current Recession. IFFD Papers (2011) Wölfl, A.: Improving Employment Prospects for Young Workers in Spain. In: OECD Economics Department Working Papers, Número 1040. OECD Publishing (2013) Zubero, I.: El derecho a vivir con dignidad: del pleno empleo al empleo pleno. Ediciones Hoac, Madrid (2000)

Environment and Latest Trends in Social Sciences Marta Vigo Cancela

Abstract The increase of the anthropic impact on the environment and the risk that they mean for life, have motivated a debate that originates different philosophical and epistemological positions. This chapter provides a reflection on current trends in the social sciences that address the environmental problem, especially in Latin America. The reflection based, on the investigation of the most recent publications on eco-philosophies referred to: Territorial Intelligence, Ecological Ethics, Ecological Citizenship, Political Ecology and Good Living. In conclusion, we can said, that the arguments supported by these eco-philosophies reveal a new critical thinking that includes the consideration of the environment and the construction of a new theoretical framework as alternatives to the “single thought” that dominates the Western world. Keywords Environment · Recent trends · Social sciences

1 Introduction In the second half of the twentieth century, evidence of the severity of environmental deterioration and unsustainability of ecosystems led to an increase in socioenvironmental awareness and the emergence of various theoretical, social and nongovernmental movements with environmental interest. The complexity and risk of the problem gathered scientists who initiated specific studies and the construction of a new paradigm that could systematically include both physical and social aspects to address the complex and interrelated dynamics of environmental phenomena. That is why in the beginning ecology used as a discipline that focuses its analysis on interrelations, rather than on objects as the Cartesian approach does.

M. V. Cancela (B) CITCa—Research and Transfer Center, CONICET/UNCa. Argentina, Av. Pte. Castillo 3153, Catamarca CP 4700, Argentina e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_30

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The magnitude of problems led to a growing interrelationship between the social sciences and the environment. The diversity of perspectives from the field of philosophy, politics and science, account for the importance that the different positions give the relationship man/nature. Whereas anthropocentric approaches give human and natural “resources” a merely instrumental value, the environmentalist positions conceive the world integrally and look for a better life for the present and future generations.

2 Theory 2.1 Environmental Conflicts It known that natural environmental problems such as tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, etc., are added others provoked by the man. Global warming, fuel crisis, pollution, loss of plant mass and biodiversity are some of the environmental conflicts of anthropic origin, which have a high impact on the quality of life. Generally these conflicts occur very quickly but their consequences are usually irreversible or can only be overcame in the long term, turning the system unsustainable to such an extent that (in) sustainability has become a priority issue, depending on the increasingly violent conflicts, frequent and complex, that threaten the survival of humanity. This is why there are frequent summit meetings at the international level (politicians and scientists), but declarations and the creation of specific institutions can hardly improve the situation. The group of good wishes, more or less sincere, that have occurred since these meetings, expressed in recommendations, letters, minutes, conventions and new institutions, have not achieved their objectives. Borja et al. (2016, p. 27) indicate, as did the Chernobyl little girl in Rio 1972, that international meetings are media and costly ““big summits” on poverty, environment, or human settlements […] with no other result than rhetorical statements, duly controlled by governments and multinationals, and with zero effects for the population”. Countries that most negatively affect social life and ecosystems such as the United States and China have made insufficient efforts to control polluting processes, for example, in the production of CO2 . In that sense, James Hansen, warns that, the negotiations in Paris are a “fraud”, and that “actions” needed to cut carbon emissions by 2020, not “only promises”. China, the world’s largest emitter, continues with its plan to increase pollutant emissions by at least 2030, and the pact depends on national will. The Chief Executive Officer—CEO—of large transnational corporations “applauded” the Paris Accord because it does not modify the rules of the game (Honty and Gudynas 2015, p. 1 and 3). Scientists and thinkers point out that environmental anthropological conflicts are dynamic and systemic interrelated economic, territorial and socio-environmental.

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Among others: Grosfoguel (2016), Alimonda (2016, 2011, 2005), Moulaert et al. (2014), Quijano (2014, 1993), Leff (2013), Naredo (2002, 2013 and 1996), Klein (2012), Guimarães (2012 and 2002), Estefanía (2011), Chomsky (2011), Harvey (2009 and 2004a/b), Max Neef et al. (2009), Borón (2009), Beck (2007), Barton (2006), Martínez Alier (2004). These authors highlight that, environmental and population conflicts, the increase in urbanization, the demographic and capital concentration derive in large part from the negative impacts of the capitalist system of resource exploitation. The environmental problems of anthropic origin intrinsically related to the system of production and exploitation of resources, and to the concentration of power/wealth. This produces negative environmental impacts and growth of poor sectors on an unprecedented scale. This fact, questions the faith in the indefinite development proposed by modernity. The neoliberalism with a reductionist economic discourse, places the financial as primordial, hiding the causes of the socio-environmental damages, or presenting them as normal and unavoidable (Naredo 2013, 2002). The capitalist system, in order to survive, depends on the constant increase in the exploitation of resources in a negative linear sequence: increases in extraction, industrialization and the elimination of waste. Borón (2009) warns that the capitalist crisis of the late twentieth century is a multidimensional crisis of overproduction/underconsumption. This crisis, in addition to the overexploitation of natural resources, includes an increase in the exploitation of “human resources”. Martínez Alier (2004) emphasizes that not everyone is affected equally by the conflicts that the economy causes due to the exploitation of natural resources. Some suffer higher costs than others, originanting ecological distributive conflicts or environmental justice conflicts. Ortiz and Cummins (2011, p. vii) calculated by estimation models, that in 2007 in the world “the top 20% of the population enjoys more than 70% of total income, while that of the bottom quintile shared a miserable 2%”. They estimate that “it would take more than 800 years for this quintile to reach 10% of the global income under the real exchange rate”. Also is worrisome “the prevalence of children and young people among the poorest income quintiles, which 50% are below the international poverty line of $2/day”. Oxfam International (2017) reports that in 2016, eight millionaires own more money than half of the world’s population (about 3600 million), that the gap between rich and poor is much greater than feared and that the rich evade the payment of taxes and enhance the wage devaluation, using its power to influence public policies. In this way, they feed the crisis of inequality requires a fundamental change in the economic model in way that benefits all people. Excessive demand (greed) for goods and services by dominant sectors cannot met with local resources alone, so it requires the extension of its “ecological footprint” to “dependent” territories that have a geo-strategic value for growth and the development of the market. This causes capitalism to globalize to extract natural and biogenetic resources as well as to dispose of waste, in increasingly distant places (Ceceña and Sader 2002; Rees 1992; Urban and Hoskova-Mayerova 2017).

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2.2 Sustainable Development The notorious failure of “development theories” to eradicate poverty and reduce pollution in the world, warns that the “development or progress” enunciated has not improved the living conditions of “peripheral” societies of capitalism; on the contrary, provoked its crisis, producing situations of penury and uprooting. The magnitude of its impact refers to reflecting on the validity of the sustainability paradigm. The validity of the concept of Sustainable or Sustained Development questioned by its ambiguity and its use as a mask of unsustainable practices, to make them acceptable to customers. Initially, the term “eco-development” was used, but it was replaced by “sustainable development”, more similar to the “self-development” and “close to the economists” conventional that continued with the productivism doing only some “ecological” corrections (Naredo 1996). Naredo (2002, pp. 29–30) points out that this “sustainable development” that he calls “weak” maintains the “myth of economic growth, the critical movement of the 70s, to reassure the population” simulating an environmental approach, but maintaining the economic growth questioned, which is still measured by the simple increase of the aggregate to the National Product. For politicians and businesspersons it is “easier and cheaper” to make propaganda with an environmental makeup as if they were respectful with the environment, than to change the system of exploitation. Therefore, in addition to the sustainable adjective, others, such as green, ecological, natural or environmental used, for example, to talk about cars and skyscrapers. The mercantilist utilitarianism imposes the value “efficiency” to the value “justice”, the productive capacity of the economy is its fundamental value for the promotion of well-being, and associates the concept of development only to “advanced” societies. Like a conceptual framework, political, and economic system that produces large areas of misery, degradation of the environment and the human life, which are the lesser of two evils for this utilitarian mentality. In this sense, the notion of decrease is an alternative to the weak concept of sustainable development used by companies as a business opportunity. Decrease, as a revolutionary global project based on the needs on a human scale of Max Neff, Elizalde and Hopenhayn, in opposition to the conception of unlimited human necessity implicit in capitalism. This new conception implies a substantial change in the pattern of the predatory business/consumer relationship (de la Cuadra 2015). In this change, eco-philosophies configured an alternative intellectual, theoretical and factual paradigm.

2.3 Ecophilosophies A strong environmental sustainability, demands to consolidate more sensible, equitable and solidary forms of life, instead of the administration of the squandering of some at the expense of the majority poverty. This requires, a proactive social

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participation, a new ethical and epistemological approach, a transparent/informed debate, and address the interventions considering their interscalar/multiterritorial framework, because the environment is a continuum. Different theoretical approaches developed that tend with different degree of depth to a strong sustainability. All these theories emphasize the importance of a holistic and transdisciplinary treatment to face the environmental challenges, overcome the anthropocentrism and undertake systematic actions tending to achieve a better and more solidary life. The ecophilosophies based on a premise inverse to that of modernity (egocentric); consider the humanity as an indissoluble part of the Cosmos. The consequences of this investment ecocentric are broad and involve, among other things, less waste, more frugality, recycling, and respect for nature. Of the different transformative alternatives that beyond the mere environmental diagnosis, the latest trends in ecophilosophy: Territorial Intelligence, Ecological Ethics, Ecological Citizenship, Political Ecology and Good Living, are proposals in the field of social sciences. Transcendent especially in Latin America and in Argentina, that with a critical thinking that includes the environmental question as theory and praxis, they emerges as alternatives to the “unique thinking” that dominates the Western world.

3 Analyses of Results 3.1 Methodology To interpret and compare the positions of the new trends in the Social Sciences respect to the sustainability paradigm are analyzed the following recent ecophilosophies. Territorial Intelligence, Ecological ethics, Ecological Citizenship, Political Ecology and Good Living (Buen Vivir). Using mostly the more recent works available in Scopus, Databases of Web of Science—WoS—and Google Scholar and in the Latin American Council of Social Sciences—CLACSO. With this information, a corpus formed to perform the comparative analysis and interpret the different philosophical/epistemological positions of these new trends in Social Sciences that address environmental issues. For this, the hermeneutic method was used, especially the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) for the historical, objective and subjective reconstruction of the statements (Coreth 1972), in order to cross the borderies of the words and capture its meaning (Cárcamo Vásquez 2005). The CDA, a recently developed research approach, allows us to approach interdisciplinary concepts that capture the connections between discursive practices in their historical contexts (Benavides and Jorge 2008), focusing on researching social problems, which are their main objective, from a perspective critical sociopolitical. The CDA investigates the way in which discourse used to establish, legitimize, exercise or resist power and domination; in this sense, it understands/defines discourse as a

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social practice, while it identifies discourse analysis as social analysis and discourse as a form of action. Therefore, analyze the discourse that circulates in society is to analyze a form of social action (Fairclough 1992, 2003; van Dijk 2000; Santandeer 2011; Maturo and Hoskova-Mayerova 2018).

3.2 Results of the Bibliographic Inquiry A synthesis of the results obtained in the research carried out on the different positions regarding the paradigm of the sustainability of the new trends of the Social Sciences: Territorial Intelligence, Ecological Ethics, Ecological Citizenship, Political Ecology and Good Living, presented below.

3.2.1

Territorial Intelligence

As a scientific response to the demands of the territorial communities, the Territorial Intelligence—TI—is born in Europe (in France, Belgium, Spain), it is spread throughout Africa, Asia and North America and later in Latin America, through the Program of Support from the European Union and the International Network of Territorial Intelligence—INTI. Bozzano et al. (2012) affirm that the innovation of TI are the practices, also the methods and concepts, the multidisciplinary approach, the research/action link, and how it deals with the co-construction of a participative territorial governance on the territorial dynamics, considering the needs of the people and resources available, in order to fight against poverty and social exclusion. Girardot (2009) indicates that the TI promotes decision-making processes, the practices of participation/collaboration, and the action research; so that they contribute to a fair and sustainable development of the territorial community. It also relates multidisciplinary knowledge about territories and their dynamics strengthens the capacity of communities to participate in the development and improves the exchange of territorial information, by extending their methods and analysis tools thanks to information and communication technologies (Bekesiene and Smaliukiene 2009). The methodologies and tools used help to mobilize local agents. They combine the administration of territorial information systems, with the mobilization of the participants directly involved in the management of the tensions linked to sustainable territorial development and with the networking of active groups, for the creation of information and its transformation into action.

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3.2.2

417

Ecological Ethics

The moral consideration of the environment implies a change in the strongly anthropocentric conception. Capitalism based on a technosphere that produces progress in material well-being, but which makes the possibility of living in a just society more and more distant, since intrasocietarias and interplanetary differences become more evident every day. The evidence of global warming, poverty, and global inequality, produces a profound perceptual variation in the population, and challenges beliefs values, patterns and behaviors naturalized. In this sense, to speak of a new trend that implies an important revolution in the anthropocentric conception, is to speak of ecological ethics and the moral consideration of the environment. Sosa (2000, p. 282) understands that it is not possible to continue evading a global ecological approach that carries out a deep moral review. The “crossing thresholds of perception” in the face of problems puts humanity before a new moral frontier, an ecological ethic that does not address ‘other’ problems, but focuses them on a global environmental dimension. Ecological ethics based upon universal moral principles of coexistence, exchange, ways of life, interests, opinions, habits that leave out the technological/instrumental rationality, to construct a practical rationality where the action is not at the service of an external goal, but includes in it the telos (purpose). A new solidarity is the guiding value for thinking and moral action that nurtures so-called third-generation human rights, commonly known as ecological rights (Sosa 2000). However, this solidarity should not be understood only as symmetrical duties and reciprocities, as proposed by dialogical ethics, but include human beings with limitations to access the services of culture and technology, to submerged societies, to future generations, to genetic biodiversity and to the vital flows of ecosystems that make life possible in general and human life in particular. In other words, the human community immersed and forms an indissoluble part of the environment in which it lives, with which it interacts. This integration with the environment is present in the horizon of this ethic, where justice, solidarity and cooperation prevail. This ecological approach contributes to connecting the areas (which modernity fragmented) of science and morals, with the world of life.

3.2.3

Ecological Citizenship

Ecological Citizenship (EC) constitutes a recent proposal of democratization to extend the rights guaranteed by traditional theories, to deactivate the violation that the consumerism of the present society exerts on the nature. It differs from environmental citizenship, in which the notion is restricted to the classical perspective of citizenship focused on rights and does not imply the generation of a model that encompasses the public and the private. The EC concept comprises three elements: (a) recognition of third generation rights as the defense of the environment; (b) the increase of environmental concerns on the part of the citizens that concretized in the systematization of state and interna-

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tional environmental studies; (c) the perception of the culture of the emergency, the crisis or the catastrophe resulting from socio-environmental conflicts. It comprises, within the framework of virtue, the non-contractual duties of the public/private sphere (Dobson 2005). Vives Rego (2012) specifies that sustainability is a new cosmovision that provides a socio-political process. Defines as peculiarities of the EC: (A) extends moral community and ethical spaces to nature as a whole. (B) is responsible with those who for biological or social reasons can’t expect reciprocity. (C) Adapts human life to the biosphere and not vice versa. (D) Considers the consequences and sub-consequences of technology and current actions on future generations. (E) Rejects the instrumental conception of nature and anthropocentrism. While Martínez Palacio and Bárcena Hinojal (2012), indicate as key components of the EC the following aspects. (a) The defense of sustainability (others for future generations, other species and the planet). (b) Political participation and democratization (citizens who not only focus on the normative but also consider the law itself). (c) The public/private connection is not only the public space where ecological citizenship exercised. (d) Glocalization (local/global relationship). Therefore, ecological citizenship as an action in defense of the environment, transcends the sphere of the public as a crucial space for citizen activity, assumes that the ethical exercise of defense goes beyond the norm.

3.2.4

Political Ecology

The Political Ecology (PE) is a political, intellectual and cultural movement that is interested in the concrete human being as part of nature. It formed as a confluence space of different fields of knowledge, with a critical perspective against the theoretical and political contradictions of the modernity, due to evidence of rise of the environmental damage, inequity, poverty and the violence that it produces (Alimonda 2005). Martínez Alier (2004 in Alimonda 2005), defines it as the study of distribution conflicts in “the social, spatial and temporal patterns of access to the benefits obtainable from natural resources and services provided by the environment as a life support system”. The PE constructs analytical, theoretical and epistemological frameworks outside the dominant economic theory and liberal reason, tending to bring about a profound change in dominant discourses and practices. In that sense, power and environmental governance are fundamental categories, as well as the regimes of appropriation, access and use of resources; for this reason analyzes the relationships imposed by capitalism in peripheral countries, specially the production, the economy, the eurocentrism, the territorial domination and the extractivism as looting (Quijano 2014; Bolivar Echeverría 2010). Alimonda (2016) says that political ecology penetrates vertically and horizontally in the international intellectual field, revealing networks of action and production/accumulation of knowledge of a more than significant breadth.

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The Modernity/Coloniality group is one of the most representative in Latin America in the analysis and discussion of the power relations that occur within the capitalist economic system that impact on the environment. It was formed as a crucible of Latin American critical thinking related mainly to CLACSO and the Coloniality Working Group, it is integrated, among other thinkers, by Lander, Mignolo, Escobar, Dussel, Coronil, Quijano, Lugones, Palermo, Walsh, Grosfoguel, Sanjinés, Castro-Gómez, Maldonado-Torres. This group, assuming a decolonial perspective. Approach modernity/coloniality as indivisible constituents of the same process begun at the end of the fifteenth century with colonialism that continues until today as a “coloniality”. Coloniality does not require governing but maintains power through at least three aspects: racism, epistemic Eurocentrism, and Westernization (violent or consensual) of lifestyles, in correspondence it imposes: coloniality of power, coloniality of knowledge and coloniality of being. The PE, seeks to formulate real alternatives to the global pattern of coloniality, considering the thinking of the Latin American indigenous peoples “invisibilized” and devalued. Escobar (2011, pp. 64–71) addresses the discussion of identity and culture, framed in the perspective of modernity/coloniality/decoloniality. Rather than a positioning centered on a dispute of a material nature, it proposes the consideration of the discursive, social and cultural dimension of the relationship between man and nature. It considers as central aspects. (a) the control of the territory; (b) the disputes between capitalist production and non-capitalist economies; (c) the global ecological crisis that denounces a crisis of modern thought; (d) the development imposed in the region with a colonialist objective and the decolonial alternatives; (e) the legal identity and the right of invisible groups; (f) the system of networks of social movements through which decentralized knowledge circulates. From this perspective, to study the relations between social agents, mediated by institutions and regulated by politics, it is important to understand the territory as a socio-historical-cultural configuration, with performative capacity in the representations, subjectivities and practices of individuals/social groups. This conception of territory makes it possible to approach different scales and factors of a social, political, economic, historical, educational and environmental nature from the complexity and conflict, and allows instances of reflexive articulation to integrate knowledge about the link between nature, society and culture (Yuni 2015).

3.2.5

Buen Vivir (Good Living)

The Buen Vivir (BV) (Andean), such as Ubuntu (South African) and Mino Bimaadiziwin (Anishinaabeg) refer to the integration of collective human rights and the rights of nature expressed in the philosophies of the original peoples (Martínez Alier et al. 2014). In this conception human beings are “incarnate nature, not separate from nature … non-dual (unitive) experiences open the mind and heart to the fullness and complexity of incarnate and embedded existence” (Wolfstone 2015).

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With the recovery of the conception of Buen Vivir, we try to overcome the errors and limitations of Eurocentric thinking and capitalism as the only way of thinking and living, and traditional theories of progress/development with unlimited exploitation of natural and human resources. As a practice and alternative/complementary concept to the classic ecophilosophies, the BV developed from a semantic originated in Bolivia and Ecuador. Sumak kawsay of Ecuadorian Quichua origin expresses the idea of a simply good life without a continuous effort to improve it. It differs from Suma Qamaña that “comes from Bolivian Aymara and introduces the community element … [which] could be translated as a good coexistence, a good society for all in sufficient internal harmony” (Tortosa 2011 p. 1). Sumak kawsay posits the existence of a social being and an ontologically validated subject for a good relationship with nature assuming a close reciprocity between man and his social/natural environment, from a holistic ethical dimension. By challenging the assumptions of the development of modernity as a pathology, it defies its epistemology, and the taxonomies of regions of the world called ‘developed’ and ‘underdeveloped’. Dávalos (2008, p. 3 and 7) states that “of all human societies, the modern episteme is the only one that has produced such an environmental impact and the consequences begin to pass the bill.” He adds, “In theories of development there is no epistemological possibility of understanding of alterity.” Faced with this use of nature as a commodity, of individualism, profit, cost-benefit, competitive relations, the commodification of life and violence; the BV concept rescues other life alternatives. The notion of BV considers that it is possible to respect the difference and relativize the epistemological assumptions of modernity that constituted as hegemonic. He appeals to the policies of financial and international cooperation agencies that, with “legitimizing and covert ideologies of ethnocide, propose developmental parameters that violate and subaltern the original communities.” (Dávalos 2008, p. 3). The political struggles for epistemic/social decolonization undertaken by the original Latin American peoples are an example for social movements around the world.

4 Discussion 4.1 Social Sciences and Environment The reductionism of the prevailing economic discourse is helping more to conceal than to analyze and solve the ecological and social problems that the behavior of industrial civilization entails. Given the greater sensitivity of the population to these issues, formal reference to the environment incorporated into rhetoric in most political programs, economic activities and speeches; to reassure the population with a green image. Resources also allocated for gatopoetic programs and actions, in which everything tends to described as “ecological” and “sustainable”, hiding or trivializ-

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ing environmental contradictions and damages, without changing the management criteria or behavioral patterns that originate them. Transiting from anthropocentric worldview/action to an ecocentric, requires a very important paradigm shift, changing the way of thinking and living. For this reason, the new tendencies of the Social Sciences, question the “unique thought” and incorporate a new epistemology imbricated with a praxis related to the nature, in a holistic approach with a greater empathy, unity and connection with the place. This epistemological and also axiological/behavioral transformation has been emerging from the evidence of the inevitable failure of the prevailing productive/ideological system, to promote a development for all. In that field, the Social Sciences have much to build and they are actively doing it. There is not single philosophy that unifies collective ecological praxis. ecophilosophies provide a language to deconstruct anthropocentrism and to construct ways of thinking, living and being alternatives. Naredo (2002, p. 21) recalls the foreshadowing of the book by Andreski (1975). He presents to the Social Sciences as the witchcraft of modern times, referring to the multiplication of professionals working on the evils that afflict society, does not necessarily leads to an effective improvement as the dominant economy continues to guide its decisions without taking into account the damage it causes. Change requires “critical thinking”, as well as a critical theory starting from “the normative proposition that oppression must be reduced or eliminated” and that it aspire to reduce domination (Alimonda 2016, p. 37). In this sense, it is transcendent to analyze the relation territory/private property, as constitutive elements of the power and the dynamics of dominant/dominated spaces, which looted with the consequent evident conflicts. That struggle, as old as history itself, established on the different scales where autocratic power deployed, from the local to the global. What is relatively new is the magnitude of the global impact produced by the huge financial profit pursued by today’s dominant sectors. This situation caused, as analyzed, by the system of production and commercialization, seeks the “progress” or “development” based on the increase of mercantilism (consumerism) pressing for a dispensable waste that increases residues and impacts in increasingly distant territories. This dynamics of linear production in the extraction, transportation, industrialization, distribution, consumption, discarding, does not give rise to a more responsible and equitable one, of less consumption in a circular process of recycling. The ignorance of the eco-philosophies analyzed has aggravated the environmental situation. From the Initial Diagnosis and Exploration (c.1960), it was passed to Prevention/Resolution/Reversal (c.1980), then to Mitigation (c. 1990). Afterwards it was necessary to arrive at Adaptation to climate change (c.2000), Environmental resistance (c.1010) and Social resistance of the poor (2016), clearly showing the growth of the problem and the slowness/ineffectiveness of the answers. The approach to environmental problems should always done from a more critical position. Therefore, in the new approaches on environmental issues of the latest trends in the social sciences, the production of diagnostic studies is important, including studies of causality, but, given the magnitude of the environmental problem and its

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origin, mentioned above, it is imperative be taken proactive measures to address the issue with more equitable and smart alternatives. In this sense, it is important to follow from the academic point of view, the social movements that are carried out in different scales on achieving fairer and more solidary future; understanding something as elementary as that man is the nature on which it depends totally. Some interesting case studies and results can be found in Maturo et al. (2016), HoskovaMayerova et al. (2017) and Flaut et al. (2018). From the academy, the Research Participatory Action is one of the possible ways to co-construct more viable and supportive alternatives. It is an academic tool that allows environmental improvement, which can channeled towards the best practices, of which countless cases presented. In the Seminar on Housing and Environment of the Department of Social Work/National University of Catamarca/Argentina, for example, working with undergraduate students and taking advantage of resources that aren’t always capitalized to transfer the results to society such as time, money and other recurses that they use in their practical works. Between 1991 and 2013, more than 200 teams1 in places, classrooms of the university, nurseries, bus stations, access to public buildings, environments for the elderly, forested, etc., achieving very satisfactory results working together with the community involved in relatively short time (4 months). However, the problem with these interventions is that they are generally of a reduced scale and fail to address the problem at their source. Nevertheless, direct awareness or through social networks offer the possibility of extending its coverage, although it must be careful not to fall into “gatopardismo” and undertake simplistic palliative actions without strengthening the full awareness that the origin of the problem is clearly in excessive desire for profit, in the avarice, of the prevailing linear production system.

5 Conclusions The concept of sustainable development, in its weak sense, often used as a strategy to reassure the population and capture naïve “green” markets. In that sense, several international organizations maintain the status quo of the capitalist productive system, making concessions “Lampedusian” to the discontent of the world population by the environmental problems derived from the excessive exploitation of resources. The prevailing neo-capitalist system, of overexploitation of resources, mercantilism and consumerism; causes negative environmental and social impacts of such magnitude that they can’t be hidden. To achieve strong environmental sustainability, alternative sociopolitical conceptions are required that oppose the installed ideology of “single thought” as a constituent of man and society, characterized by market dominance, 1 Participated

493 students and 1970 social actors, in different communities of the provinces of Catamarca, Tucumán, Salta and Jujuy/ Argentina.

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purely financial interest, individualism, plundering, exclusive validation of Cartesian scientific reason. This chapter provides, in relation to environmental problems, the compared analysis of the essential components of ecophilosophies as recent trends within the Social Sciences. These new tendencies evidence a critical thought that includes the environmental consideration and constitute an alternative to the “unique thought” that dominates the western world. At the same time, in the face of the evidence of a resounding failure to promote development for all, they propose and construct an epistemological/axiological change, as well as behavior. Based on the foregoing, it is possible to infer that there is a clear need for the community actively participate in a global network related to the multiscalar and multiterritorial level. No organization, institution or actor is capable of doing what corresponds to the concrete collective of a territory that affects globality. Consequently, the issue can’t addressed exclusively by a State, a social class and less by the interests of capital. In this field, the Social Sciences have a lot to build and are actively doing it. The interrelationship Social Sciences/Environment must approached from a global critical conception, as do the eco-philosophies, which especially considers the politicalsocio-productive system. Noting that environmental conflicts strongly permeated by the capitalist production system that necessarily leads to massive consumption, overexploitation of resources, reproduction of poverty, overproduction of waste and pollution. Therefore, in this style of development it is intrinsically unlikely to achieve strong environmental sustainability. Pro-environmental actions that do not consider this central issue will be merely palliative. Therefore, it is important to promote strong local/global environmental management, understood not as the management of the government or politicians, but as the political action of the community with a structurally organized regulatory framework. Acknowledgements The author would like to thank especially Dr. José Luis Sarasolla SánchezSerrano for his support as Chairman of the Organization Committee of the “IV International Conference on Recent Trends in Social Sciences and Social Work” and Dr. Francisco Solá for their feedback and suggestions.

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Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI). European Guidelines and Empirical Applications on the Territory Vanessa Russo

Abstract The monitoring of technological development for the improvement of the national performance of EU Member States has become one of the main points of discussion of the European Commission for to keep abreast of countries like the USA, Japan and South Korea. This system results in the development index of Digital Economy and Society (DESI), an instrument that can detect a data system in order to quantify the level of technological development at the macro level and the micro level. The topic of this paper, in a first part, is to understand the development and applications of DESI index. Finally, following the European guidelines on index DESI, will be made an application on Abruzzo’s territory for rebuild a framework of technological development of the region. Keywords Digital divide · Open data · DESI index · Innovation · Digital public administration

1 Introduction The development of Post-industrial society is founded on free circulation of knowledge. This process of “continuous peer” is called informationalism. The informational paradigm interface constantly whit social system and generates interaction, control and social change (De Kerckhove 1997). When this virtuous circle is dominated by the principles of finance and competition between companies, the effects creating a vicious circles and perverse repercussions on society. A typical example is pharmaceutical industry; in fact, medicines for AIDS developed in the West are not used in Africa because they are too much expensive and in African states, there’s 95% HIV cases. The corporation strategies neutralize attempts to produce medicine at lower prices or find alternatives way V. Russo (B) Department of Legal and Social Science, Università G. d’Annunzio Chieti-Pescara, Via dei Vestini, 66100 Chieti, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_31

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because they control patents of research. In the last few years, some governmental and non-governmental institutions have led to a stunning expansion of property rights. The consequence of this process is a society with a seizing knowledge in extensively, quickly and completely mode, more than any previous era (O’Lauglin 2008). However, this closure tendency is support by a countertrend oriented to the free circulation of knowledge. The Open Source and Open Content philosophies are based on these processes. This trend, called hacker ethic, deals with sharing skills and facilitating access to information and become a positive asset of formidable effectiveness and an ethical duty (Himanen 2001). The development of the “Open” system, over the years, has undergone an institutionalization process to become an integral part of the informational innovation process of the Public Administration (Feller and Fitzgerald 2002). The process of informational innovation of the Welfare State implies a virtuous circle composed by a dynamic network in which the three dimensions of the network (technology, social and economic) are part of the traditional institutional system (De Blasio and Selva 2016; Pešat 2015; Maturo and Hoskova-Mayerova 2018a). Furthermore, it also implies the application of information technology for the purpose of social welfare and the renewal of the structures of the welfare state through a more dynamic network organization. This type of innovation can contribute to increasing the productivity of public services, alleviating costs and thus reducing the fiscal pressures of the welfare state (Castells and Himanen 2002; Maturo and Hoskova-Mayerova 2018b). In Italy this system is legally regulated in the Growth Decree 2.0 (Law 221 of 17 December 2012). This document, in line with the European lines, is composed by nine point of development for innovation: • establishment of the Agency for Digital Italy and the Digital Agenda; • introduction of new electronic supports able to guarantee a certified communication between administrations and between administrations and specific users; • regulation of Open Data (OD); • digitization of the paper supports traditionally used for institutional communications (medical prescriptions and certification of diseases) and textbooks for school teaching; • zeroing of the digital divide; • dissemination of electronic money in order to facilitate payments and at the same time guarantee the security and traceability of economic transactions; • promotion of strategic research and innovation projects; • establishment of the technical committee of intelligent communities; • definition of formal requirements for the birth of innovative companies (start-ups) (Russo 2017). The Growth Decree 2.0 embodies the ideal type of informational welfare defined by Castells and Himanen (2002) because it takes into consideration: the need for a connection between the economic system, entrepreneurship, institutions and research has the merit of giving value to the Bottom-Up dimension. In fact, the connection

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between the free circulation of knowledge on the net, Big Data and Open Data translates into forms of social hackerism and redefinition of the concept of active citizenship (Scavo and Shi 2000).

2 Background: Information Technology and DESI Index The Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) is a composite index that summarises some 30 relevant indicators on Europe’s digital performance and tracks the evolution of EU Member States. The monitoring of technological development for the improvement of the national performance of EU Member States has become one of the main points of discussion of the European Commission for to keep up with countries like the USA, Japan and South Korea (Ben et al. 2017). This system results in the development index of DESI, an instrument that can detect a data system in order to quantify the level of technological development at the macro level and the micro level (De Groen et al. 2017; Ben et al. 2017; Urban and Hoskova-Mayerova 2017).

2.1 Dimension DESI index has a range of values between 0 and 1 with higher values representing better performance and is composed by five dimension, twelve sub dimensions and thirteen individual indicators. DESI overall index, calculated as the weighted average of the five main DESI dimensions with the weights selected by the user: (1) Connectivity; (2) Human Capital; (3) Use of Internet; (4) Integration of Digital Technology and (5) Digital Public Services. DESI Connectivity Dimension calculated as the weighted average of the four sub-dimensions: • Fixed Broadband: calculated as the weighted average of the normalised indicators: Fixed BB Coverage (standard fixed broadband coverage) and Fixed BB Take-up (Households that have a fixed Broadband connection). • Mobile Broadband: calculated as the weighted average of the normalised indicators: Mobile BB Take-up (Mobile broadband take-up) and Spectrum (Percentage of assigned spectrum out of the target to be harmonised at EU level). • Speed: calculated as the weighted average of the normalised indicators: NGA Coverage (Households covered by NGA broadband) and Subscriptions to Fast BB (Share of fixed broadband subscriptions ≥30 Mbps). • Affordability: calculated as the weighted average of the normalised indicators Fixed BB Price (Monthly cost of the least expensive fixed broadband subscription with speed of 12–30 Mbps).

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DESI Use of Internet Dimension calculated as the weighted average of the three sub-dimensions: • Content: calculated as the weighted average of the normalised indicators: News (Individuals who used the Internet to read online news sites, newspapers or news magazines), Music, Videos and Games (Individuals who used the Internet to play or download games, images, films or music), Video on Demand (IPercentage of households subscribing to any form of Video on Demand), IPTV. • Communication: calculated as the weighted average of the normalised indicators: Video Calls (Individuals who used the Internet to make telephone or video calls), Social Networks (Individuals used the Internet to participate in social networks), • Transactions calculated as the weighted average of the normalised indicators: Banking (Individuals who used the Internet to use online banking), Shopping (Individuals who ordered goods or services online). DESI Human Capital Dimension calculated as the weighted average of the two sub-dimensions: • Basic Skills and Usage, calculated as the weighted average of the normalised indicators: Internet Users (Individuals whose frequency of Internet access is at least once a week), Basic Digital Skills (Individuals with basic or above basic digital skills), • Advanced skills and Development, calculated as the weighted average of the normalised indicators: ICT Specialists (Persons Employed with ICT Specialist Skills) and STEM Graduates (Science and technology graduates). • DESI Integration of Digital Technology Dimension calculated as the weighted average of the two sub-dimensions: • Business digitization, calculated as the weighted average of the normalised indicators: Electronic Information Sharing (Enterprises who have ERP software package to share information between different functional areas), RFID (Enterprises using Radio Frequency Identification—RFID—technologies for after sales product identification or as part of the production and service delivery), • Social Media (Enterprises that use two or more types of social media), eInvoices (Enterprises sending e-invoices suitable for automatic processing), Cloud (Buy Cloud Computing services of medium-high sophistication). • eCommerce, calculated as the weighted average of the normalised indicators: SMEs Selling Online (Enterprises selling online—at least 1% of turnover), eCommerce Turnover (Enterprises’ total turnover from e-commerce), Selling Online Cross-border (Enterprises that did electronic sales to other EU countries). DESI eGovernment sub-dimension calculated as the weighted average of the normalised indicators: • eGovernment Users (individuals sending filled forms to public authorities, over the internet, last 12 months), • Pre-filled Forms (amount of data that is pre-filled in Public Services’ online forms—authentic sources Key Enabler indicator of eGovernment benchmark),

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Fig. 1 Digital economy and society index. Source https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/ desi

• Online Service Completion (share of the steps in a Public Service life event that can be completed online—online availability sub-indicator for User centricity of the eGovernment benchmark), • Open Data (score in the European PSI Scoreboard measuring the status of Open Data and PSI re-use throughout the EU).

2.2 DESI Composite DESI 2016, calculated on 2015 data, puts Italy to number 25 with a score of 0.35. Figure 1 indicates a critical situation concerning the Italian technological development in the European context. The data are available to https://ec.europa.eu/digitalsingle-market/en/desi (last visualization 15\01\2018).

2.3 Italian Situation See Fig. 2.

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Fig. 2 Connnectivity. Source https://ec.europa.eu/ digital-single-market/en/desi

2.4 Connectivity With an overall Connectivity score of 0.42, Italy ranks 27th among EU countries. Broadband is widely available, but not fast broadband whose coverage progresses but not fast enough. The take-up of mobile broadband is more widespread.

Source https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/desi

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2.5 Human Capital With a Human Capital score of 0.42, Italy ranks 24th among EU countries. The country has improved its score and ranking in comparison to the previous year (0.38), but Human Capital endowment is still an issue for Italy.

Source https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/desi

2.6 Use of Internet In terms of the propensity of individuals to use Internet services, Italy scores 0.33 a slight decrease with respect to last year, putting Italy to the lowest rank among EU countries. Italians appear to refrain most from using the Internet when they need to make transactions, interact with others and read the news. Only in fruition of digital content Italy performs slightly better. Italians are also becoming more familiar with the online channel for shopping (+4 p.p.), in line with the increase experienced on the enterprise side.

Source https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/desi

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2.7 Integration of Digital Technology Integration of Digital Technology by businesses is the dimension where Italy ranks second best of all DESI 2016 dimensions: With a score of 0.31 (substantially unchanged from lastyear), Italy ranks 20th among EU countries. Italy’s enterprises are not making much progress in the take up of eBusiness solutions but the eCommerce sales channel is gaining importance.

Source https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/desi

2.8 Digital Public Services Digital Public Services is the dimension of DESI 2016 where Italy ranks best, ranking 17th among EU countries with a score of 0.54. However, use of eGovernment is still the main drag to this sub-score performance. The availability of online public services has progressed but there is room for improvement in re-using information across administrations to make life easier for citizens.

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3 Research Design Following the European guidelines on index DESI, an application on Abruzzo’s territory for rebuild a framework of technological development of the region in terms of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is going to be made. 1. Methodology and sources: Mapping of Abruzzo Digital economy: The purpose is to conduct the construction of an economic mapping of a local character digital technologies that highlights the light and shade of the regional production system and, at the same time, give a representation of good business practice in the area. In particular, we need to build a guidance path to interpret the evolution of the digital manufacturing base for companies Industry and Services operating in Abruzzo. 2. Historical series: The investigation on the time series of development of the Abruzzo digitization process aims: briefly describe the time course of the phenomenon for highlight any regularity, both outliers; to understand what kind of surveys and what parameters and components have been used to describe local economic development; predict the future course of the phenomenon. 3. Metadata: The Semantic Web is a computer system that allows detecting the content of network data, analysing and finalizing them in a specific use. It consists of a metadata system based on a protocol called Resource Description Framework for make a unique data collection system using a URI (Universal Resource Identifier). Through this new detection technology it becomes possible to organize the data according to a “logic of predicates” and finding for each ad hoc resource: in this way a document may be analysed and elaborated according to various needs. In the context of research on the data for setting up of DESI index, metadata play a fundamental role. In fact, the database, organized in respect of the indicators, are available for analysis in a format in SPARQL endpoint. In addition, through the instrument of the Open Data you can access additional information and to detect because the local government is really active and working for the transparency of the data.

4 Preliminary Results: Mapping of Abruzzo Digital Economy Data In the context of the ICT innovation process in the Public Administration, the Abruzzo Region has developed a strategy, in line with the indications included in the Italian Digital Agenda (ADI) and the European Digital Agenda (ADE), through the identification of specific priorities and methods of intervention. The ADI is a programmatic and strategic document that contains a set of innovation initiatives in the territory.

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The overall strategy developed is in line with the programmatic/legislative acts defined by the “Europe 2020” strategy for the 2014–2020 period. The guidelines impose a series of compliance conditions of the strategies, for the applicability at the country level of funding related to digital growth and infrastructures. The document, in a preliminary stage, describes the analysis of the demand and supply of information and communication technologies. In relation to these items, are linked the various interventions and the specific actions planned and reported. With these premises, the strategy devised by the Abruzzo Region for the design of the ADI was to divide the initiatives into a “short-term program plan (2014–2016)” in which the initiatives are described in greater detail (those undergoing approval, the financial resources and objectives to be achieved) and a “long-term program plan (2016–2020)” which describes the main action lines to be undertaken and the objectives to be pursued. In the context analysis of the innovation process of the Abruzzo region, as shown in the graphs, emerges an active process of development but highlights a series of critical issues regarding the objectives defined by the Europe 2020 strategy standards. In fact, from DESI index Abruzzo data emerges some gaps in relation to the establishment of infrastructures for fast navigation and the definition and understanding of eGoverment processes. Finally, another critical issue deals with the digitalization of the economic processes of local businesses and the poor attitude to online buying. Data on the use of the Network by the Abruzzo population highlights a concern for digital communication (instant messaging, video content, social media and streaming), however, there is also a lack of propensity to acquire online books and the selection of personalized television content (on-demand). In relation to the TLC allocation in the Abruzzo area, a high level of medium and small enterprises is found to provide a broadband connection, however a low level of municipalities and broadband households emerges. Furthermore, there is a low level of PC presence at the family level, in this sense it is necessary to clarify: the birth and development of smartphones equipped with an internet connection has, in some casest thwarted the presence of personal computers and a home Internet connection. This figure is perfectly understood with the level of user use of Abruzzo, in fact, the smartphone is an ideal tool for digitized communications (relevant data in the Abruzzo context) instead for other uses (of little interest from the Abruzzo) becomes inconvenient and difficult. About the inclusion of information and communication technologies in active companies with at least 10 employees emerges a gap for to the use of the PC and Internet in the business environment and the allocation of company websites. Finally concern to development of Smart region result a process still in a definition phase. In fact, Smart City index, Digital index and Smart culture and travel index are very low. Furthermore, the level of access to digital PA services and the use of the network in the family school relationship is still very low.

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Source http://agendadigitale.regione.abruzzo.it/index.php/agenda-digitale-regione-abruzzo-adr/ analisi-di-contesto

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5 Digital Agenda Abruzzo Region: Swot Analysis and Open Source System From the swot analysis carried out by the Abruzzo region1 in relation to the Digital agenda, it appears that a strengths situation about realization of infrastructure and telematics service. An important steps concerns the braking down of Digital divide, in fact is one of the basic and more important levers for a virtuous process of develop and digital innovation (Van Dijk and Hacker 2003; Norris 2001; DiMaggio and Hargittai 2001). Furthermore, there are some opportunities regarding to Creation of infrastructure, new job and digitalization of content and telematics services. The best practices are: the implementation of local products through the enhancement of the electronic market. The weakness of this process in Abruzzo region however the inability to access broadband internet in inland areas with low population density, in particular this gap is collocated in mountain areas this phenomenon is incentivized by a low level of investment, in relation to regional GDP, in research and development. Another important problem is the lack of knowledge and use of online services by citizens. The weak point discovered in this swot analysis are connected with the threats that: the technical restrictions (production of non-interoperable solutions) that slow down access and sharing of digital content, the lack of unitary coordination to disperse resources and duplicate interventions and the bureaucratic slowdown due to the low level of funding for ICT interventions. These elements are important for develop value of Informationalism and digital innovation in Abruzzo areas.

1 The

data are available to: http://agendadigitale.regione.abruzzo.it/index.php/agenda-digitaleregione-abruzzo-adr/analisi-swot.

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STRENGTHS • Realization of elaborate infrastructures, applications and highly performing and secure communications available to citizens and businesses • Portfolio of the telematics services made available by the local PA, also in aggregate form • Use of the telematics channel by companies for interaction with the local PA • Positive trend of breaking down the Digital divide

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WEAKNESS • Inability to access broadband internet in inland areas with low population density • Limited use of online services by citizens • Low level of investment, in relation to regional GDP, in research and development • Low percentage of professionals with specialist skills in ICT • Low use of open-source solutions by the local PA

OPPORTUNITY THREATS • Creation of new jobs • Technical restrictions (production of • Digitization of contents non-interoperable solutions) that slow down • Strengthening and rationalization of ICT access and sharing of digital content • Lack of unitary coordination to disperse infrastructures resources and duplicate interventions • Implementation of new generation networks • Bureaucratic slowdown due to the low level • Enhancement of local products through the of funding for ICT interventions enhancement of the electronic market • Enlargement of the technological gap services offered by businesses in Abruzzo towards other European realities • Sensitization of citizens and businesses to the use of telematic services Source http://agendadigitale.regione.abruzzo.it/index.php/agenda-digitale-regione-abruzzo-adr/ analisi-swot

A character apart regarding to the use of open source solution by the local PA. The use of Open Source within the IT systems of organizations guarantees the user two advantages: – A significant cost saving, generally the cost of a software project is divided into three parts or license acquisition, installation and customization of programs, internal costs of organizational adjustments using an open software you do not have to pay for the acquisition of software guaranteeing a savings two-thirds of normal software. – Flexibility and modelling, Open Source being freely editable can be modelled according to user needs and are subject to continuous updating because available to the developer community. Different is the case of commercial software whose life is tied to the commercial choices of the producer. In other words, the benefits of Open Source are the same as any free market: the competition between diversified offers produces lower prices, more innovation and specialization (Feller and Fitzgerald 2002). In Italy, the use of free software in public administrations is introduced by DDL 1188 of 24 July 2003 that regulates and guarantees at the regulatory level the possibility of adopting, modifying and integrating these programs in the management of the IT systems of the institution. Since then various agencies have started experimental projects with the help of this new form of technology.

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In 2009, the Abruzzo region put in place an amendment aimed at the progressive introduction of free software, based on a process of adjustment of the region and of the entities it has depended or controlled, to be completed by December 31, 2012. However, another bill was presented based on the same structure as the previous amendment with the help of a one million euro fund. Since the first half of 2010, this project has been examined by the first commission because there is still no regional law that allows its implementation. Three projects of Open Source software have been launched so far in the Abruzzo region: – The University of L’Aquila in 2005 was faced with a phase of profound organizational renewal and information systems, in particular the IT protocol “Titulus 97”. Therefore, the Cartesio project was activated, inspired by the University of Padua, which consists in the creation of a workflow engine in order to automate the activities of the offices called @fido. The result was a new flowchart, decidedly lost, and with the help of open source technologies there was a considerable saving in terms of time costs and human resources, moreover the project was born on an open source platform already available, so the competitiveness has also been in terms of costs of support services, training, installation and management. Finally, always with the help of open technologies, it was possible to develop the project with internal resources, this allowed to customize the product to the exact needs of the administration, interfacing it with the existing databases and ensuring in perspective the possibility of managing a continuous software maintenance process. – The Monte Genziana and Alto Gizio regional nature reserve has introduced the use of GIS Open Source, a territorial information system that allows the acquisition, recording, analysis, visualization and return of information derived from geographical data and organizes every year of the introduction courses to the use of the software, addressed to professional students and new graduates. – The province of Pescara has created a website concerning the Commissioner for dredging the Port of Pescara with the help of IT tools exclusively Open Source, through: the Linux Operating System, Apache as a web server, MySQL as a database and PHP as a language server side programming.

6 Discussion and Future Work The preliminary data of this work deal with a scenery very complex and in continuous change. Although the analysis of DESI index in Abruzzo region define a contest in line of national average, is a very low level because Italian Desi index in European contest puts Italy to number 25. Therefore, the importance of monitoring for local development in terms of economy and digital society is not just about the simple study of social phenomena in the

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area. But becomes the springboard for local development projects that can be framed in the broader project defined by the Europe 2020 strategy. As already mentioned in the second paragraph, the next steps of this intervention will concern the investigation on the time series of development of the Abruzzo digitization process in relation to Italian digitalization process with support of the Open Data, Linked Data (Tim Berners-Lee 2006; Janssen et al. 2012) and, obviously, the metadata.

References Ben, S., Bosc, R., Bosc, R., Jiao, J., Li, W., Simonelli, F., Zhang, R.: Digital infrastructure: overcoming the Digital divide in China and the European Union. CEPS Research Report (2017, November) Berners-Lee, T.: Linked data (2006). http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html Castells, M., Himanen, P.: The Information Society and the Welfare State: The Finnish Model. Oxford UP, Oxford (2002) De Blasio, E., Selva, D.: Why choose open government? Motivations for the adoption of open government policies in four European countries. Policy Internet 8(3), 225–247 (2016) De Groen, W.P., Lenaerts, K., Bosc, R., Paquier, F.: Impact of digitalisation and the on-demand economy on labour markets and the consequences for employment and industrial relations. Final study. CEPS Special Report (2017, August) De Kerckhove, D.: Connected Intelligence: The Arrival of the Web Society. Somerville House Books, Toronto (1997) DiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E.: From the ‘Digital divide’ to ‘digital inequality’: studying internet use as penetration increases, 4(1), 4–2. Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, Princeton (2001) Feller, J., Fitzgerald, B.: Understanding Open Source Software Development, pp. 143–159. Addison-Wesley, London (2002) Himanen, P.: The Hacker Ethic and the Spirit of the Information Age. Random House, New York (2001) Janssen, M., Charalabidis, Y., Zuiderwijk, A.: Benefits, adoption barriers and myths of open data and open government. Inf. Syst. Manag. 29(4), 258–268 (2012) Maturo, F., Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Evaluating journals performance over time using functional instruments. In: AIP Conference Proceedings. American Institute of Physics, New York (2018a). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5078474 Maturo, F., Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Analyzing research impact via functional data analysis: a powerful tool for scholars, insiders, and research organizations. In: Proceedings of the 31st International Business Information Management Association Conference Innovation Management and Education Excellence through Vision 2020, pp. 1832–1842 (2018b). ISBN: 978-0-9998551-0-2 Norris, P.: Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and The Internet Worldwide. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2001) O’Laughlin, B.: Governing capital? corporate social responsibility and the limits of regulation. Dev. Change 39(6), 945–957 (2008) Pešat, P.: Digital technology in social problem solving. In: Pešatová, I., Szluz, B., Walawender, P. (eds.), pp. 183–192 (2015) Russo, V.: Città e culture nello spazio digitale. e-Methods applicati allo studio del mediattivismo civico. Franco Angeli, Milan (2017)

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Scavo, C., Shi, Y.: Public administration: the role of information technology in the reinventing government paradigm normative predicates and practical challenges. Soc. Sci. Com. Rev. 18(2), 166–178 (2000) Urban, R., Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Threat life cycle and its dynamics. Deturope 9(2), 93–109 (2017) Van Dijk, J., Hacker, K.: The Digital divide as a complex and dynamic phenomenon. Inf. Soc. 19(4), 315–326 (2003)

Life Cycle of the Crisis Situation Threat and Its Various Models Radovan Potuˇ ˚ cek

Abstract This chapter deals with a crisis situation life cycle and its various models. Two specific data sets collected during the floods in the Czech Republic in 2013 are used for presenting various life cycle models of a threat and risk dynamics. The best results in the data approximation by the least squares using polynomial functions of degree 2–5, two types of linear-exponential, linear-logarithmic, linearirrational, quadratic-goniometric, cubic-goniometric, and piecewise-linear function were achieved by approximation of the piecewise-linear function, which corresponds best to life cycle model of a threat and risk dynamics. Keywords Crisis situation life cycle · Risk dynamics · Data analysis · Piecewise-linear least squares approximation · CAS Maple

1 Introduction Natural disasters have accompanied the life of humankind since its very beginning. With the increasing population density, the devastating effects of these natural disasters can reach (and, unfortunately, they do reach) massive proportions and they cause a great number of deaths (Petrea et al. 2018; Otˇrísal and Florus 2014). It is therefore essential for people to be prepared for the possible natural disasters as best as they can, to be able to predict them as much as possible and to learn to prevent and face them. In order to do this, it is necessary to study the disasters that already happened and to learn from them. The issue of training specialists in crisis

R. Pot˚ucˇ ek (B) Department of Mathematics and Physics, Faculty of Military Technology, University of Defence in Brno, Kounicova 65, 662 10 Brno, Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_32

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management is dealt with in many jobs, for example Hošková-Mayerová (2015, 2016), Švarcová et al. (2016) and Prikryl et al. (2018). Another interesting papers deal with decision making in crisis situations and risk assessment are e.g. the papers (Hošková-Mayerová et al. 2013; Navrátil et al. 2017; Otrisal et al. 2017; Vallejo Andrada et al. 2017). There are two views on the natural disaster occurrence resulting particularly from the activities of natural forces (Švorc et al. 2018; Otˇrísal et al. 2018). A predominant view consists in the fact that disasters occurrence is more frequent and shows the increasing impact on the population and economy of the region. In contrast, the reinsurance company Munich Re (Sachs 2012) claims that the increase in major natural disasters is small and it is just a certain fluctuation in the long-term horizon. An overview of the types of natural disasters, their levels of risks in any location of the world between 1998 and 2015 or in individual years can be found, e.g., on the web page (Nathan Risk Suite 2016). Despite the fact that the damage caused by insurers has reached higher levels in the last three decades than before, it is questionable whether this trend is not due to the society development, growing standard of living and wealth of the population. Therefore, in each disaster more worth values are touched than before. Basic concepts concerning crisis situation can be found, e.g., in a monograph (Antušák and Kopecký 2004). Our chapter follows freely the article (Urban et al. 2011) where there is in parts presented a linear model characterizing phases of a threat life cycle and elements of a threat life cycle in combination with phases of crisis management and a crisis situation (Soitu ¸ 2014, 2015).

1.1 The Life Cycle Concept The life cycle is a fundamental feature of development. Individual biological organisms, ideas, products, technologies, organizations, political economies and any other developing system must trace out some form of life cycle growth in their capacity or impact (Y-axis) over time or cumulative experience (X-axis). Life cycle curves are called “B-curves”, because they look like a lower-case b, laying on its back. The “B” may also stand for biology, as all biological organisms are subject to this curve. An example of such a curve is the life cycle B-curve in Fig. 1. This curve has the following phases: an Initiation/Birth phase, an Acceleration/Growth phase, a Deceleration/Maturing phase, a Saturation phase, a Decline/Senescence phase, and a Death/Recycling phase where the system dies, goes extinct or bankrupt, or is taken over by another system. GP (growth point), IP (inflection point), SP (saturation point) and DP (decline point) are points on the curve after which careful observers can notice that growth conditions have changed.

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Fig. 1 The life cycle B-curve. Source Smart and Fant (2017)

1.2 Basic Phases of a Threat Life Cycle Individual phases of a threat life cycle can be described using the example of floods. In the prenatal phase, the geo-morphological phenomena create a river whose attribute of danger consists in the ability to flood human dwelling. A preventive activity is typical for crisis management at that time. At the phase of the growth, the risk begins to rise; i.e., the threat is likely to affect its surroundings over the time. In terms of the crisis situation development, the phase of elevation is being promoted and the crisis management starts applying the first correction processes. At the phase of incidence the threat begins to show negative impacts both on the environment and human, water starts to spill over the riverbed banks and there is a danger of flooding. The crisis situation moves from the elevation to escalation and the crisis management is trying to intervene, i.e., to take and implement active measures so that the risk escalation could be reduced and crisis situation prevented. At the phase of further incidence and secondary effects, the flooded river remains in its peak culminating point, and beside its own affects, it creates situation for manifesting other threat, i.e., it shows consequent impacts. The crisis situation is in the culmination phase and begins to move to its consolidation phase. The crisis management maintains reduction measures when harmful and devastating crisis factors are restricted and directs the situation to the phase of recovery measures. The crisis situation ceases. The last is the cessation phase when the threat ceases completely due to the change of the environment or is suppressed to a latent state; when the conditions are favourable again, the threat moves back to the phase of the growth. The risk at different time and phases of a threat life cycle acquires various values. The knowledge of risk dynamics is crucial for the management process. As the risk rises, there is an increasing need for taking measures that would move the risk within

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α2

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Fig. 2 Threat life cycle and threat risk dynamics. Source Urban (2013)

the area of acceptable risk. The life cycle of the threat and risk dynamics presented in the paper (Urban et al. 2011) are illustrated using a graph, which can be demonstrated in Fig. 2. The risk level is demonstrated with a continuous broken line consisting of three line segments. Similar graphs with a piecewise-linear model are also included and in the papers (Thrasyvoulos and Tobias 2013; Ronez 2013; Urbánek and Urbánek 2001) and in the report (Mobile Threats, Made to Measure 2013). Corresponding graphs from the last two sources create Fig. 3. A piecewise-linear model from Fig. 2 was verified in (Urban and HoškováMayerová 2017) using two data sets acquired at floods in the Czech Republic in 2013: in particular, sets comprising data with water levels of the Otava River in the town of Písek and the Blanice River in the municipality Heˇrmaˇn. We use the approximation of the piecewise-linear function using the least squares, which will be compared with polynomial, linear-exponential, linear-logarithmic, linear-irrational, quadratic-goniometric and cubic-goniometric approximations. Finally, let us note that detail 2013 flood report (Kubát and Daˇnhelka 2013) has prepared by the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute in Prague.

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Fig. 3 Graphs with piecewise-linear models. Sources Urbánek and Urbánek (2001) and Mobile Threats, Made to Measure (2013)

2 The Otava River Levels in the Town of Písek Let us consider the Otava River water state height in the town of Písek, which is implicitly included in the flood report of 2013 (Votýpka 2014). The data are given in Fig. 4, which covers the period from May 30 to June 7, 2013. From the graph in Fig. 4, the following seventeen data can be read in the form of ordered pairs, the first component of which is the equidistant duration of the crisis

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situation in half-days and the second component represents the approximate height of the water state in meters (rounded to nearest five centimetres): [0, 1.1], [1, 1.1], [2, 1.15], [3, 1.55], [4, 1.85], [5, 1.8], [6, 2.2], [7, 3.7], [8, 4.5], [9, 5.2], [10, 4.85], [11, 4.3], [12, 3.95], [13, 3.75], [14, 3.45], [15, 3.25], [16, 3.15]. The question of the right choice of breaking points is not trivial and its more detailed processing goes beyond the scope of this chapter. A suitable topic for further detailed evaluation of parts of a linear regression model could be such an adaptation that would include algorithmic selection of breaking points or optimization of their selection. In Sect. 2.1, we will consider like in (Urban and Hošková-Mayerová 2017) breaking points [5, 1.8] and [9, 5.2] as natural breaking points and then points [6, 2.2] and [9, 5.2] as the another breaking points. We have chosen the breaking point [6, 2.2] because it is not entirely clear whether this point belongs to the first gradual or to the second steeper approximation line. The points in a plane and the piecewise-linear approximation functions derived further in the Sect. 2.1 for the second selection of breaking points are shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 4 The Otava River levels in the town of Písek. Source Votýpka (2014)

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Fig. 5 Threat life cycle dynamics on the Otava River and its water levels with piecewise-linear function approximation. Source Own modelling in Maple 16

2.1 Piecewise-Linear Functions Approximation At the first selection of breaking points [5, 1.8] and [9, 5.2], the first approximation line L 1 is determined by six points [0, 1.1], [1, 1.1], [2, 1.15], [3, 1.55], [4, 1.85], [5.1.8], the second approximation line L 2 is determined by five points [5, 1.8], [6, 2.2], [7, 3.7], [8, 4.5], [9, 5.2] and the line L 3 is given by eight points [9.5.2], [10, 4.85], [11, 4.3], [12, 3.95], [13, 3.75], [14, 3.45], [15, 3.25], [16, 3.15]. We would like to show how the approximation by the least squares method can be performed by using the special packages of the computer algebra system Maple 16. By the worksheet, analogous to the worksheet used for the second selection of breaking points, we get the following results which correspond to the results stated in (Urban and Hošková-Mayerová 2017). The individual approximation lines have the equations L 1 : y = 0.1757x + 0.9857,

L 2 : y = 0.91x−2.89,

L 3 : y = −0.2988x + 7.7226.

The intersections of the lines L 1 and L 2 and the lines L 2 and L 3 have approximate coordinates [5.28, 1.91] and [8.78, 5.10]. Standard error of approximation by the piecewise-linear function is approximately 0.6592.

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At the second selection of breaking points [6, 2.2] and [9, 5.2], the first approximation line L1 is determined by seven points [0, 1.1], [1, 1.1], [2, 1.15], [3, 1.55], [4, 1.85], [5, 1.8], [6, 2.2], the second approximation line L2 is given by four points [6, 2.2], [7, 3.7], [8, 4.5], [9, 5.2] and the line L3 is given by eight points [9.5.2], [10, 4.85], [11, 4.3], [12, 3.95], [13, 3.75], [14, 3.45], [15, 3.25], [16, 3.15]. For this selection of breaking points we get the following worksheet: > with(CurveFitting): Digits:=6: Otavax1:=[0,1,2,3,4, 5,6]: Otavay1:=[1.1,1.1,1.15,1.55,1.85,1.8,2.2]: Otavax2:=[6,7,8,9]: Otavay2:=[2.2,3.7,4.5,5.2]: Otavax3:=[9,10,11,12,13,14, 15,16]: Otavay3:=[5.2,4.85,4.3,3.95,3.75,3.45,3.25,3.15]: > L1:=LeastSquares(Otavax1,Otavay1,x); L1:=unapply(L1,x): L1 := 0.957143 + 0.192857x > L2:=LeastSquares(Otavax2,Otavay2,x); L2:=unapply(L2,x); L2 := −3.45000 + 0.980000x > L3:=LeastSquares(Otavax3,Otavay3,x); L3:=unapply(L3,x); L3 := 7.72262−0.298810x > print(“the x-coordinate of the intersection of the lines L1 and L2:”,fsolve(L1-L2),“the x-coordinate of the intersection of the lines L2 and L3:”,fsolve(L2-L3)); “the x-coordinate of the intersection of the lines L1 and L2:”, 5.59891, “the xcoordinate of the intersection of the lines L2 and L3:”, 8.73673 > LSE:=0: n1:=0: n2:=6: n3:=9: n4:=16: > for k from n1 to n2 do LSE:=LSE+(L1(k)-Otavay1 [k+1])ˆ2: end do: for k from n2+1 to n3 do LSE:=LSE+(L2(k)-Otavay2 [k-n2+1])ˆ2: end do: for k from n3+1 to n4 do LSE:=LSE+(L3(k)-Otavay3 [k-n3])ˆ2: end do: print(“The standard error of the least squares method for the Otava River by the second piecewise-linear approximation is”, sqrt(LSE)); “The standard error of the least squares method for the Otava River by the second piecewise-linear approximation is”, 0.912721

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The least squares approximation performed using the Maple 16 computer algebra system get the following results. The equations of approximation lines are L 1 : y = 0.1929x + 0.9571,

L 2 : y = 0.98x−3.45,

L 3 : y = −0.2988x + 7.7226.

The intersections of the lines L 1 and L 2 and the lines L 2 and L 3 have approximate coordinates [5.60, 2.04] and [8.74, 5.12]. Standard error of approximation by the piecewise-linear function is approximately 0.9127. The comparison of the standard errors of these two approximations implies that the first piecewise-linear approximation is more suitable than the other one.

2.2 Approximation by Another Ten Types of Functions by Using the CAS Maple The given data will now be also approximated by the least squares method using the system Maple 16 by following ten types of functions: 1. quadratic function y = ax 2 + bx + c, 2. cubic function y = ax 3 + bx 2 + cx + d, 3. quartic function y = ax 4 + bx 3 + cx 2 + d x + e, 4. polynomial function of degree 5 y = ax 5 + bx 4 + cx 3 + d x 2 + ex + f,

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5. linear-natural decreasing exponential function y = ax + b + ce−x , 6. linear-natural increasing exponential function y = ax + b + cex , 7. linear-natural logarithmic function y = a(x + 1) + b + c ln(x + 1), 8. linear-irrational function y = ax + b + cx1/2 , 9. quadratic-goniometric function y = ax 2 + bx + c + d sin x + e cos x, 10. cubic-goniometric function y = ax 3 + bx 2 + cx + d + e sin x + f cos x. Functions number 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9 were discussed in (Urban and Hošková-Mayerová 2017) and their BIC (Bayesian information criterion) were calculated. We are going to describe in more details the usage of the computer algebra system Maple 16. For these ten types of functions approximating the water level of the Otava River we get the following results extracted from Maple worksheet: > with(CurveFitting): with(Student[LinearAlgebra]): infolevel[Student[LinearAlgebra]]:=1: > Otava:=[[0,1.1],[1,1.1],[2,1.15],[3,1.55],[4,1.85], [5,1.8],[6,2.2],[7,3.7],[8,4.5],[9,5.2],[10,4.85], [11,4.3],[12,3.95],[13,3.75],[14,3.45],[15,3.25], [16,3.15]]: > LeastSquaresPlot(Otava,[x,y],curve=a*xˆ2+b*x+c); Fitting curve: .1410+.7144*x-.3255e-1*xˆ2 Least squares error: 2.664 > LeastSquaresPlot(Otava,[x,y],curve=a*xˆ3+b*xˆ2+c*x+d); Fitting curve: .8771+.6148e-1*x+.7261e-1*xˆ2-.4382e-2*xˆ3 Least squares error: 2.102 > LeastSquaresPlot(Otava,[x,y],curve=a*xˆ4+b*xˆ3+c*xˆ2+ d*x+e);

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Fitting curve: 1.430-.8884*x+.3588*xˆ2-.3274e-1*xˆ3+ .8861e-3*xˆ4 Least squares error: 1.588 > LeastSquaresPlot(Otava,[x,y],curve=a*xˆ5+b*xˆ4+c*xˆ3+ d*xˆ2+e*x+f); Fitting curve: 1.129+.6812e-1*x-.1095*xˆ2+.4845e-1*xˆ3.4896e-2*xˆ4+.1446e-3*xˆ5 Least squares error: 1.296 > LeastSquaresPlot(Otava,[x,y],curve=a*x+b+c*exp(-x)); Fitting curve: 1.764+.1650*x-.9920*exp(-x) Least squares error: 3.828 > LeastSquaresPlot(Otava,[x,y],curve=a*x+b+c*exp(x)); Fitting curve: 1.059+.2741*x-.3155e-6*exp(x) Least squares error: 3.168 > LeastSquaresPlot(Otava, [x,y],curve=a*(x+1)+b+c*ln(x+1)); Fitting curve: .2033-.3764e-1*x+1.567*ln(x+1) Least squares error: 3.496 > LeastSquaresPlot(Otava,[x,y],curve=a*x+b+c*sqrt(x)); Fitting curve: .2527-.7929e-1*x+1.289*xˆ(1/2) Least squares error: 3.601 > LeastSquaresPlot (Otava,[x,y],curve=a*xˆ2+b*x+c+d*sin(x)+e*cos(x)); Fitting curve: .5318e-1+.7445*x-.3460e-1*xˆ2.1268*cos(x)+.2596*sin(x) Least squares error: 2.545 > LeastSquaresPlot (Otava,[x,y],curve=a*xˆ3+b*xˆ2+c*x+d+e*sin(x)+f*cos(x)); Fitting curve: 1.136-.1529*x+.1083*xˆ2.5953e-2*xˆ3-.4690*cos(x)+.2093*sin(x) Least squares error: 1.604 This worksheet contains specific approximation function and their standard errors. A comparison of standard errors of these ten types of approximations with the first piecewise-linear approximation shows that significantly smallest standard error of approximation has the piecewise-linear approximation so that it is the most suitable approximation. Like the linear model was chosen piecewise linear, it would be natural to consider the above ten approximations also piecewise. Numerical processing of these models would, however, exceed the scope of this chapter. The graphs of the first five approximate functions above created in the CAS Maple 16 by the worksheet

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> with(CurveFitting): with(plots): > Otava:=[[0,1.1],[1,1.1],[2,1.15],[3,1.55],[4,1.85], [5,1.8],[6,2.2],[7,3.7],[8,4.5],[9,5.2],[10,4.85], [11,4.3],[12,3.95],[13,3.75],[14,3.45],[15,3.25], [16,3.15]]: > p1:=LeastSquares(Otava,x,curve=a*xˆ2+b*x+c): > p2:=LeastSquares(Otava,x,curve=a*xˆ3+b*xˆ2+c*x+d): > p3:=LeastSquares(Otava,x,curve=a*xˆ4+b*xˆ3+c*xˆ2+d*x+e): > p4:=LeastSquares (Otava,x,curve=a*xˆ5+b*xˆ4+c*xˆ3+d*xˆ2+e*x+f): > p5:=LeastSquares(Otava,x,curve=a*x+b+c*exp(-x)): > plot([p1,p2,p3,p4,p5,Otava],x=0..16,style= [line,line,line,line,line,point],color= [blue,green,cyan,black,orange,red],symbol=solidcircle, symbolsize=15,thickness=2); are shown in Fig. 6. The graphs of the last five approximate functions are represented in Fig. 7.

Fig. 6 The graphs of 17 given points (red) and of the approximate functions y = ax 2 + bx + c (blue), y = ax 3 + bx 2 + cx + d (green), y = ax 4 + bx 3 + cx 2 + d x + e (cyan), y = ax 5 + bx 4 + cx 3 + d x 2 + ex + f (black), y = ax + b + ce−x (orange). Source Own modelling in Maple 16

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Fig. 7 The graphs of given points (red) and the approximate functions y = ax + b + cex (blue), y = a(x + 1)+b+c ln(x + 1) (green), y = ax+b+cx1/2 (cyan), y = ax 2 +bx+c+d sin x+e cos x (orange), y = ax 3 + bx 2 + cx + d + e sin x + f cos x (black). Source Own modelling in Maple 16

3 The Blanice River Levels in Heˇrmanˇ Municipality From the graph in Fig. 8, the following seventeen data can be read in the form of ordered pairs, the first component of which is the equidistant duration of the crisis situation in half-days and the second component represents the approximate height of the water state in meters (rounded to nearest five centimetres): [0, 0.5], [1, 0.5], [2, 0.6], [3, 0.75], [4, 0.8], [5, 0.75], [6, 1.15], [7, 2.05], [8, 2.5], [9, 2.75], [10, 2.6], [11, 2.45], [12, 2.35], [13, 2.3], [14, 2.2], [15, 2.15], [16, 2.1]. In Sect. 3.1, we will consider breaking points [5, 0.75] and [9, 2.75] as natural breaking points and then points [6, 1.15] and [9, 2.75] as the another breaking points. Due to the fact that the calculation and graphic outputs of Maple 16 in Sect. 3 are analogous to the calculations and graphs from Sect. 2, we limit ourselves only to a brief comment.

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Fig. 8 The Blanice River levels in Heˇrmaˇn municipality. Source Votýpka (2014)

3.1 Piecewise-Linear Functions Approximation At the first selection of breaking points [5, 0.75] and [9, 2.75], the first approximation line L 1 is determined by six points [0, 0.5], [1, 0.5], [2, 0.6], [3, 0.75], [4, 0.8], [5, 0.75], the second approximation line L 2 is determined by five points [5, 0.75], [6, 1.15], [7, 2.05], [8, 2.5], [9, 2.75] and the line L 3 is given by eight points [9, 2.75], [10, 2.6], [11, 2.45], [12, 2.35], [13, 2.3], [14, 2.2], [15, 2.15], [16, 2.1]. The points in the plane and the approximate piecewise-linear function of the second selection of the breaking points are shown in Fig. 9. The first selection of breaking points was described in (Urban and HoškováMayerová 2017) and that is way we write only the results. We get the following equations of approximation lines: L 1 : y = 0.0657x + 0.4857,

L 2 : y = 0.535x−1.905,

L 3 : y = −0.0905x + 3.4935.

The intersections of the lines L 1 and L 2 and the lines L 2 and L 3 have approximate coordinates [5.09, 0.82] and [8.63, 2.71]. Standard error of approximation by the piecewise-linear function is approximately 0.3363. The points in a plane and the piecewise-linear approximation function are shown in Fig. 9.

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Fig. 9 Threat life cycle dynamics on the Blanice River and its water levels with piecewise-linear function approximation. Source Own modelling in Maple 16

At the second selection of breaking points [6, 1.15] and [9, 2.75], the first approximation line L 1 is determined by seven points [0, 0.5], [1, 0.5], [2, 0.6], [3, 0.75], [4, 0.8], [5, 0.75], [6, 1.15], the second approximation line L 2 is given by four points [6, 1.15], [7, 2.05], [8, 2.5], [9, 2.75] and the line L 3 is given by eight points [9, 2.75], [10, 2.6], [11, 2.45], [12, 2.35], [13, 2.3], [14, 2.2], [15, 2.15], [16, 2.1]. The least squares approximation performed using the Maple 16 computer algebra system get the following results. Using the worksheet analogous to the worksheet from Sect. 2.1 we get the following equations of approximation lines: L 1 : y = 0.0946x + 0.4375,

L 2 : y = 0.525x−1.825,

L 3 : y = −0.0905x + 3.4935.

The intersections of the lines L 1 and L 2 and the lines L 2 and L 3 have approximate coordinates [5.26, 0.93] and [8.64, 2.71]. Standard error of approximation by the piecewise-linear function is approximately 0.4372. The comparison of the standard errors of these two approximations implies that the first piecewise-linear approximation is more suitable than the other one.

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3.2 Approximation by Another Ten Types of Functions by Using the CAS Maple As in the Sect. 2.2 the given data are approximated by the least squares method using the system Maple 16 by following the same types of functions: quadratic function y = ax 2 + bx + c, cubic function y = ax 3 + bx 2 + cx + d, quartic function y = ax 4 + bx 3 + cx 2 + dx + e, polynomial function of degree 5 y = ax 5 + bx 4 + cx 3 + dx 2 + ex + f, linear-natural decreasing exponential function y = ax + b + ce−x , linear-natural increasing exponential function y = ax + b + cex , linear-natural logarithmic function y = a(x + 1) + b + cln(x + 1), linear-irrational function y = ax + b + cx1/2 , quadratic-goniometric function y = ax 2 + bx + c + dsin x + ecos x, and cubic-goniometric function y = ax 3 + bx 2 + cx + d + esin x + f cos x. For these ten types of functions approximating the water level of the Blanice River we get the following standard errors (abbreviated by STERR) written with the standard errors of the Otava River in the table in Fig. 10. The standard errors of approximation by the piecewise-linear function for more suitable choice of breaking points are recorded in this table, too. In the third and the fifth columns the ratios of the standard errors of the particular types of approximation functions to the standard errors of the piecewise-linear approximation (abbreviated by RTPLA) are presented.

Approximation function

STERR Blanice R.

STERR Otava R.

RTPLA Blanice R.

RTPLA Otava R.

Quadratic Cubic Quartic Polynomial of degree 5 Lin.-natur. decr. exponential Lin.-natur. incr. exponential Linear-natural logarithmic Linear-irrational Quadratic-goniometric Cubic-goniometric Piecewise-linear

1.473 1.132 0.894 0.755 1.929 1.598 1.817 1.853 1.362 0.852 0.336 (0.437)

2.664 2.102 1.588 1.296 3.828 3.168 3.496 3.601 2.545 1.604 0.659 (0.913)

4.384 3.369 2.661 2.247 5.741 4.756 5.408 5.519 4.054 2.536

4.042 3.190 2.410 1.967 5.809 4.807 5.305 5.464 3.862 2.434

1

1

Fig. 10 The standard errors of approximations by eleven types of functions for the Blanice River and the Otava River and their ratio to the standard errors of the piecewise-linear approximation. Source Own modelling

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4 Conclusion Comparing the standard error and the ratios of approximation functions to the piecewise-linear approximation in Fig. 10, we can state that the piecewise-linear model of the life cycle of the threat and the dynamics of risk was successfully validated on two data sets and that this model is the most suitable model between all the eleven considered approximations. Based on the location of the given points, two natural breaking points were always used for data given by the water levels of the Otava River and the Blanice River. A suitable topic for further detailed evaluation of the piecewise-linear model could be such an adaptation that would include algorithmic selection of breaking points or optimization of their selection. Moreover, we have to mention that the authors of the article (Urban and HoškováMayerová 2017) have also come to the same partial conclusion considering that piecewise-linear function is the optimal approximation model for life cycle of crises. Acknowledgements The work presented in this chapter has been supported by the project for “Development of Basic and Applied Research developed in the long term by the Departments of Theoretical and Applied Bases FMT (Project code: “VYZKUMFVT (DZRO K-217)”) supported by the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic.

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Evaluation Criteria of Preparedness for Emergency Events Within the Emergency Medical Services Irena Tušer and Josef Navrátil

Abstract The increase in incidents with mass casualties leads to adoption of number of necessary preventive measures in society, which aim to increase the level of preparedness of the intervening teams. The current level of preparedness of the Integrated Rescue System intervening components becomes evident after the management and evaluation of an emergency event. Individual disproportions in the actions taken are subsequently eliminated, e.g. in the form of updating the emergency documentation. In view of the activities provided by the Emergency Medical Services, which have a direct effect on saving lives and the health of people, it is necessary to eliminate these disproportions to the largest extent possible before an emergency event occurs. It is very important to find mechanisms, procedures or, if need be, criteria that will enable the assessment of the preparedness level of the Emergency Medical Services before the occurrence of an emergency event. This paper is, therefore, focused on the emergency preparedness units that play an important role in the training of the Emergency Medical Services to deal with emergency events. The paper proposes evaluation criteria and indicators that can be used for assessing preparedness within the Emergency Medical Services. Keywords Emergency medical services · Emergency event · Emergency preparedness · Emergency preparedness unit · Criteria · Indicators

1 Introduction The level of crisis preparedness of intervening teams for dealing with critical incidents with mass casualties is just as important as the speed of arrivals. The early and high-quality intervention of the emergency medical service during the pre-hospital I. Tušer (B) · J. Navrátil Department of Security and Law, AMBIS College, Prague, Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected] J. Navrátil e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_33

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phase largely determines the survival of the wounded. The Emergency Medical Services (hereinafter referred to as EMS) in the Czech Republic (CR) are part of the Association of Emergency Medical Services in the Czech Republic, which operates as a coordinating body. It represents primarily the members of the Association in negotiations with health insurance companies and the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic. It performs the function of a consultative body in relation to the central bodies, the other units of the public administration and other components of the Integrated Rescue System (IRS). In cooperation with the Society for Emergency and Disaster Medicine at the Czech Medical Association of Jan Evangelista Purkynˇe, it also proposes procedures in the field of health care delivery, instruction and education. The structure and activities of individual EMS in the Czech Republic are not entirely identical (standardized), primarily by reason of the fact that there are 14 regional EMS created by particular regions that operate in the Czech Republic. This implies that there are different approaches of regions to financing; however, there are also other factors, i.e. different demographic characteristics, the geography of a particular region and a potential threat identified. The quality of the pre-hospital emergency care delivery in both operation modes of the EMS, i.e. the regular operation mode for the sick and injured in the field of their action as well as in the mode applied in the case of emergency events and emergencies, is influenced by many factors. They are especially the response time to an incident which is associated with the territorial deployment of the EMS ambulance response teams and time intervals, the level of interoperability in the involved stakeholders´ communication, available manpower and resources and, finally, the erudition and professionalism of doctors and paramedics. In general, it can be stated that the effectiveness of pre-hospital emergency care in emergency events or emergencies is related primarily to emergency preparedness of the EMS for possible risks in a given region. Currently, no standard procedures to comprehensively assess or, if need be, to compare emergency preparedness of the EMS in individual regions have been introduced in the Czech Republic. Therefore, it seems expedient to propose appropriate methodological procedures with the use of corresponding appropriate evaluation criteria, which will enable the assessment of the EMS level of emergency preparedness with a higher degree of objectivity.

2 Analysis of the Issue The assessment of emergency preparedness is aimed basically at two areas. In the first area, the EMS emergency preparedness is assessed in various segments of activities after the emergency events that have already occurred. Subsequently, deficiencies are identified and proposals for improving the quality of the EMS emergency preparedness are implemented (Bekesiene et al. 2016, 2017). For instance, it is possible to mention the analysis of experience with bomb attacks in many countries, but also the lesson learned from the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in January 2015 that have

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been of great importance for improving the organization of rescue operations and the application of the “damage control” procedures (gunshot wounds). The scientific publications mentioning lessons learned from these terrible incidents have also had a significant influence on the optimization of medical procedures (Hirsch et al. 2015). In the second area, many papers have been published that aim at the preparation for coping with a specific emergency event; at the same time, the overall preparedness of the EMS system is assessed even in relation to the hospital emergency care. As an example, the study entitled “Preparedness of Finnish Emergency Medical Services for Chemical Emergencies” can be mentioned; it shows the EMS preparedness level for managing and handling mass-casualty chemical incidents. Attention is focused on the cooperation with hospitals in transporting chemically affected patients and the availability of decontamination equipment (Jama and Kuissma 2016). The study entitled “Need to Know vs. Need to Share: Information Technology and the Intersecting Work of Police, Fire and Paramedics” also deals with the issue of intervention interoperability among the Police, the Fire Rescue Service and the EMS. The analysis points to the quality of cooperation of intervening services, which is also influenced by the implemented standardized information technologies (Sanders 2014). The authors of the paper entitled “Assessing Community and Region EmergencyServices Capabilities” also present a proposal for improving the emergency preparedness of the system in two stages. The goal of the first stage is to improve the soft skills of paramedics including, e.g. the ability of work in a team, cooperation, team leadership ability, self-reflection, flexibility, interpersonal relations, conflict management, communication, planning, etc. (Hoskova-Mayerova 2015). The second stage focuses on “hard skills”, including the measurable abilities of an individual, e.g. the knowledge of technological, operational and financial procedures, capability, resilience and recovery (Shoemaker and Eaton 2011). The basic unifying element for assessing the quality of emergency preparedness includes the trauma plans of given components. They should be continuously updated, verified and revised. The quality assessment of plans and their feasibility in practice is possible in some respects. The World Health Organization (WHO) mentions some indicators for assessing the plans in its manual entitled “Toolkit for Assessing Health-System Capacity for Crisis Management” (World Health Organization 2012). The related indicators are presented in the publication in the form of questions, e.g. “Do the plans define mechanisms for activation, coordination, command and control? Are the plans tested, maintained and updated? Are the plans disseminated to key stakeholders after each revision?” Attention is paid to individual aspects, which can be used for the ex ante evaluation. However, the tools mentioned do not reflect all the specifics of the EMS emergency preparedness activities in individual countries. The EMS emergency preparedness unit plays a key role when preparing for emergency events and threats in the Czech Republic. However, the basic criteria to assess the level of emergency preparedness objectively have not been determined for the said unit yet; the reason is that the structure and content of activities themselves are not entirely identical in the individual regions of the Czech Republic. It is, therefore,

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necessary to propose further evaluation criteria, including their indicators, which will be able to provide relevant information on the level of emergency preparedness of the EMS units for emergency events/emergencies. In this paper, a set of key criteria and their indicators for the assessment of emergency preparedness has been proposed, with which its level can be assessed with a greater degree of objectivity.

3 Methods Used Currently, the creator (the region) in the Czech Republic and a non-profit organization deal with and coordinate the EMS activities in accordance with the legislation, but individual procedures differ in details. For comparison of the current EMS approaches in preparing for emergency events, it is necessary to select an optimal variant. It seems expedient to select appropriate comparison criteria first. To determine decisive criteria, it is possible to use the methods of multi-criteria research that will enable the selection of criteria and the determination of their importance. They will also find optimal variants (the EMS organization in the regions) and their arrangement from the best to the worst ones. The best variant is a compromise variant or a compromise solution. Most methods of multi-criteria decision-making also require the differentiation of individual criteria in terms of their importance. Therefore, when using the multicriteria assessment, in the first phase it is necessary to add an adequate weight to each criterion according to its significance. The methods for determining the weights of criteria that can be used are e.g. the scoring method, the ranking method, the Saaty method or the Fuller’s triangle method. The methods that do not require exact information on the criteria priority and that are expected to be used are the scoring method and the ranking method (Šubrt et al. 2015; Svarcova et al. 2016). In the first phase of the process for determining an optimal variant, a criteria matrix is assembled, in the rows of which the variants under consideration are presented (the EMS organizations) and in the columns there are criteria weighted. In the matrix, both maximization and minimization criteria may appear; therefore, in the next step it is necessary to convert all the criteria to the same type, i.e. maximization or minimization criteria. To establish the evaluation criteria of the EMS emergency preparedness, a method, which does not require exact information on the criteria priority, i.e. the ranking method, has been used (Šubrt et al. 2015).

Evaluation Criteria of Preparedness for Emergency Events … DETERMINATION OF CRITERIA

DETERMINATION OF INDICATORS

Planning (emergency) documentation

• completeness of planning documentation • development of documentation in accordance with pertinent legal regulations • regular annual updating

The preparedness of an emergency preparedness unit personnel

• education and professional qualification • lifelong education • job description

Preparedness for coordination with the IRS components Means of communication during emergency events/emergencies

• cooperative activity, cooperation with the IRS components • information and communication technologies • knowledge of the use of means of communication

Practical preparedness

• compliance of completed exercises with potential emergency events/emergencies in the region • comprehensive exercise records • evaluation of exercises and implementation in the planning documentation • support during an intervention/operations supervisor • systematic education • comprehensive exercise records • exercise evaluation • resources for coping with emergency events/emergencies • quality (modernization) of resources • financial resources

The preparedness of manpower for emergency events/emergencies The preparedness of resources

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Fig. 1 The proposed criteria and indicators for assessing the preparedness of emergency preparedness units

4 The Approach Proposed for Assessing the Preparedness of an Emergency Preparedness Unit for Emergency Events In terms of emergency management, common elements can be identified for the assessment of the EMS emergency preparedness or an emergency preparedness unit for emergency events/emergencies before they occur. The theoretical basis for designing the evaluation criteria included the activities for the emergency preparedness units established by Act No. 374/2011 Coll., on emergency medical services. It is the area of emergency documentation, human resources, education, training and exercises, and the area of coordination and security. The authors of this paper have also specified individual indicators to determine the degree of the fulfilment of the assessment criteria proposed. The criteria and their indicators are indicated in Fig. 1. In the next phase, the significance of the proposed evaluation criteria has been verified by the authors of the paper using inventive methods (brainstorming, brainpool-writing) with participation of the staff of the EMS emergency preparedness

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Hradec Králové

South Bohemian

Financing

Vysočina

Manpower deployed during emergency events/emergencies Preparedness of means for emergency events/emergencies

Moravian -Silesian

Practical preparedness – realization of exercises

Signific ance ranking

Olomouc

Preparedness of the staff of emergency preparedness units (human resources) Preparedness for coordination with the IRS components Means of communication during emergency events/emergencies

Average point value achieved

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Planning (emergency) documentation

VARIANTS – REGIONS South Moravian

CRITERIA

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Fig. 2 The significance of determined criteria using the ranking (priority) method

units in the Czech Republic. The individual non-profit organizations of the EMS in the Czech Republic regions could be another variant. The personnel of emergency preparedness units have assessed the significance of evaluation criteria using a 10-point rating scale. The point value of 1 represented the least important criterion, while the value of 10 was the most significant. The resulting evaluation of the evaluation criteria significance is presented in Fig. 2. According to the staff of crisis preparedness units the investigation has showed that the most important criteria for managing emergency events/emergencies are the coordinated preparedness/cooperation with the IRS, the preparedness of the EMS deployed personnel, and means of communication, which fall under the responsibility of emergency preparedness units. These three criteria have been, therefore, selected subsequently as the basic evaluation criteria for the practical assessment of preparedness of the EMS individual emergency preparedness units in the Czech Republic (Hoskova-Mayerova 2016, 2018).

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The authors of this paper have proposed a set of indicators for the fulfilment of selected evaluation criteria. The relevance of the proposed set of indicators has been assessed with the use of inventive methods (brainstorming, brain-pool-writing) by a total of 34 assessors—members of staff of the EMS emergency preparedness unit, representatives of the founder of the non-profit organization, members of the Fire Rescue Service from selected regions and independent experts in crisis management in the health service. The assessors then determined the value of the weightings of the individual indicators for selected criteria, during which they respected the condition that the total sum of the determined values of indicator weightings for each criterion must be equal to a value of 1. The data obtained was then processed by corresponding statistical methods. These criteria, indicators and weightings are shown in Fig. 3. It is clear that during the practical assessment of the state of preparedness of a specific organization, the maximum value of indicator weightings will not always be attained, and therefore their sum for a given criterion will not attain the value 1. Analysis of the results obtained indicates that the share of the first indicator cooperation with other units of the IRS predominates for criterion 1. A joint strategy, definition of strengths and weaknesses, and internal and external agents influencing the success of an intervention are essential during the cooperation of units of the Integrated Rescue System. A type of risk management is employed here, for which reason it is essential for units of the IRS to share risks mutually and continually (benchmarking) and to define a goal on this basis. The aim should be optimization of cooperation (mutual integration). The indicator an adequate number of Emergency Medical Service staff was given the highest weightings for criterion 2 which is confirmed by the everyday experience of the Emergency Medical Services during interventions. The sufficient number of deployable forces and their corresponding territorial location are factors that have a significant influence on the level of preparedness of the Emergency Medical Services for emergency events. The indicator systematic and continual education and training of forces, which is the responsibility of the emergency preparedness units of the Emergency Medical Services and which is provided both for members of staff called for pre-hospital emergency care and for the necessary intervention at the site of an emergency event, plays a no less important role. If this activity is not consistently realized for all the mentioned members of staff with due consideration given to the specific risks in the region, a lower level of preparedness can be expected in the area of professional and managerial competence (Hošková-Mayerová 2016; Švarcová et al. 2016). Members of managerial staff must assess, reassess and flexibly react to the current situation relating to the capabilities and competence of their working teams. It is appropriate to use a method of continual improvement in the form of the repeating of four basic activities: planning and strategy, realizing this plan and putting it into practice, verifying the given activity and checking it, and modifying the original strategy. This means that continual control/verification provides stimulus for action—the improvement of quality and services. The importance of the indicator knowledge of the use of means of communication was expressed in relation to the indicators stipulated for the fulfilment of criterion 3. A

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DEFINED CRITERIA

PREPAREDNESS FOR COORDINATION WITH THE IRS

INDICATORS OF FULFILMENT OF CRITERIA • coordination with the IRS components (various technical and tactical possibilities limited by space and time, i.e. potential emergency events and their management, procedure) • joint negotiations, cooperation in developing emergency documentation and preparing exercises • realization of joint exercises • communication – liaison, command, procedures

• EMS staff in sufficient numbers (quantity, available forces, territorial deployment) • systematic and coordinated education of personnel (quality of human resources) • exercise, held in connection with potential PREPAREDNESS OF emergencies THE EMS PERSONNEL FOR EMERGENCY • comprehensive exercise records/participation, EVENTS/EMERGENCIES joint training • evaluation of exercises and the implementation in the planning documentation

MEANS OF COMMUNICATION DURING EMERGENCY EVENTS/EMERGENCIES

• knowledge of the use of means of communication • methods of communication among the IRS components (practising during exercises) • information and communication technologies (reliability, modernization, compatibility) • method of communication failure or electrical power technology

WEIGHT INDICATORS •

0,2859



0,2171

• •

0,2437 0,2531



0,2781



0,2734



0,1718



0,1196



0,1568



0,2781



0,2484



0,256



0,2093

Fig. 3 Criteria, their indicators and assessors

practical knowledge of the use of means of communication, and radio in particular, is, therefore, a necessity. While it is true that members of staff know the history, development and current situation from educational programs, they do not always have a perfect command of means of communication in practice. Low participation in training is one of a number of reasons for this. The indicator Information and communication technology is also essential from the viewpoint of emergency preparedness. The technical outfit of deployment vehicles and crews is stipulated by the legislation, but this does not guarantee its reliability

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and compatibility among deployed units of the IES. This fact also has an influence on, for example, human factor errors, inadequate signal strength/coverage and economic aspects associated with the modernization of technology and technical means. The proposed set of indicators and criteria and the entire process of assessment of the emergency preparedness of the EMS is not fixed but can be exactified with a view to, for example, a specific kind of emergency event. Managed interviews indicated various interpretations by the individual units of the IRS of the importance of the weightings of the stipulated indicators. This differentiation is influenced by their working position, their given responsibility during the resolution of emergency situations and their professional experience. Different views were also recorded in respect of individual criteria from the position of the units deployed. For example, members of the FRS pointed out the existence/non-existence of process charts during the resolution of specific emergency events, inadequate technical and tactical skills and knowledge, and the lack of mutual information sharing on the material and technical equipping of units of the IRS which could result in subsequent mutual assistance in certain regions.

5 Conclusion The proposed approach is one of possible ways of how to carry out an assessment of the preparedness of the EMS emergency preparedness units for emergency events/emergencies in the Czech Republic that will have to be verified in practice in the form of case studies and further correction from the expert public. The investigation has also resulted in further knowledge, which now may be a stimulus for an expert discussion leading to the improvement of the EMS preparedness level for emergency events. A problem frequently mentioned includes the areas related to the standardization of deployed resources for coping with the most frequent emergency events (i.e. technical and material equipment), the updating and standardization of sorting identity cards for the intervention on the border of regions as well as the field of intervention management during emergency events/emergencies. From the viewpoint of the EMS with a closer focus on an emergency preparedness unit it is necessary to consider new solutions primarily in the organizational structure, human resources availability and education, and last but not least, in its contents. One of the starting points for an adequate response to the problems raised is also the use of appropriate methods for evaluating the preparedness of emergency preparedness units, which will enable the elimination of any shortcomings or, if need be, the adoption of new measures aimed at achieving a higher level and quality of emergency preparedness. However, it is obvious that in a methodical procedure the vertical management (the methodical management on the part of the Ministry of Health, legislation) must meet the horizontal management (the interests of a territorial unit). The successful management of emergency events depends on the level and quality of the training of emergency preparedness units as well as the EMS.

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References Bekesiene, S., Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Emergency cases on railways at transport of hazardous substances in the Czech Republic in 2010–2016. In: Proceedings of the 21st International Scientific Conference. Kaunas: Publishing House “Technologija”, pp. 799–806 (2017). ISSN 1822-296X Bekesiene, S., Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Becherova, O.: Accidents and emergency events in railway transport while transporting hazardous items. In: Proceedings of 20th International Scientific Conference. Transport Means. Kaunas University of Technology, Kaunas, pp. 936–941 (2016). ISSN 1822-296X Hirsch, M., Carli, P., et al. (eds.): The medical response to multisite terrorist attacks in Paris. Francie J. Lancet 386 (10012) (2015). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01063-6. Accessed 24 Nov 2015 Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Geospatial data reliability, their use in crisis situations. In: The Complex Physiognomy of the International Security Environment. “Nicolae Balcescu” Land Forces Academy Publishing House, pp. 192–196 (2015). ISBN 978-973153-215-8 Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Education and training in crisis management. In: The European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences EpSBS, vol. XVI, pp. 849–856 (2016). ISSN 2357-1330 Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Emergency assessment in case of hazardous substance leakage at Czech Republic freight rail transport in 2008–2016. In: Haugen, S., Barros, A., van Gulijk, C., Kongsvik, T., Vinnem, J.E. (eds.) Safety and Reliability—Safe Societies in a Changing World Proceedings of ESREL 2018. CRC Press, London, pp. 1381–1386 (2018). ISBN 9781351174657 Jama, J.T., Kuissma, J.M.: Preparedness of Finnish emergency medical services for chemical emergencies. J. Hosp. Disaster Med. 31(4), pp. 392–396 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1017/ S1049023X16000546. Accessed 9 Nov 2016 ˇ Ministerstvo Zdravotnictví Ceské Republiky. Úplné znˇení, zdravotní služby k 1. 4. 2012. Zákon 374/2011 Sb., o zdravotnické záchranné službˇe. Ostrava: Sagit. In Czech (2011) Otˇrísal, P., Florus, S., Barsan, G., Mosteanu, D.: Employment of simulants for testing constructive materials designed for body surface isolative protection in relation to chemical warfare agents. Revista De Chimie 69(2):300–304 (2018). ISSN 0034-7752 Sanders, C.: Need to know vs. need to share: information technology and the intersecting work of police, fire and paramedics. Inf. Commun. Soc. 17(4), 463–475 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1080/ 1369118x.2014.891632. Accessed 9 Nov 2014 Shoemaker, Z., Eaton, L.D., et al.: Assessing community and region emergency-services capabilities. WIT Trans. Built Environ. 119 (2011). 10.2495/DMAN110101.http://www.witpress.com/ Secure/elibrary/papers/DMAN11/DMAN11010FU1.pdf. Accessed Nov 9 2016 ˇ ek, Šubrt, T, et al. (eds.): Ekonomicko-matematické metody. Vydavatelství a nakladatelství Aleš Cenˇ s.r.o., Plzeˇn (2015). ISBN 978-80-7380-563-0 Svarcova, I., Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Navratil, J.: Crisis management and education in health. In: The European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences EpSBS, vol. XVI, pp. 255–261 (2016). https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2016.11.26 World Health Organization: Toolkit for Assessing Health-System Capacity for Crisis Management. Part 2. WHO Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen (2012). ISBN 978 92 890 0262 2

The Design Process. Social Planning and Decision-Making Logic Gabriele Di Francesco

Abstract The concept of rationality is one of the central issues not only of philosophical reflection, but also of sociological theory. From a sociological perspective, the rationality is seen through human action that produces socially relevant effects. Both in terms of social planning and in the logic of decisions, the rationality stands as a general theory of design praxis, an organic set of criteria constantly aimed at an innovative action that should ultimately help us to generate a fruitful relationship between critical consciousness and planning consciousness. Planning thus becomes the alternative to the abstract utopia of ideal models and should take responsibility for transforming what is just virtual into reality. In this way, following a model of reflective conversation with the planning situation, it would become the guiding factor of social life. This type of design, however, should be carried out with the involvement of individuals and their communities. On the basis of these premises, the present essay seeks to deepen the contents of planning in the transition from forms to absolute rationality to the expressions of dialogical design. Keywords Social planning · Rationality · Community · Decision-making logic

1 Introduction According to the assertions of Buckminster Fuller, the wars—cold or hot—the revolts and the problems in the underdeveloped areas, the catastrophes and the tragedies of entire ethnic groups of our planet, would not be so much the result of scarcity of resources, but rather the lack of planning. When man successfully succeeds in taking care of others at a higher level, then there will be no serious reasons for conflict, since the causes before the war would be eliminated. In design terms, “scientists assure us with increasing conviction that it is achievable. G. Di Francesco (B) Department of Business Administration, University of G. d’Annunzio Chieti-Pescara, Via dei Vestini 31, 66100 Chieti, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_34

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There can be enough energy and organizational capacity for all men to own the entire earth” (Buckminster Fuller 1962, p. 76). Following this assumption, Maldonado (1973) advocates that in revolutionary terms, in the future, planning should take responsibility for transforming what is just virtual into reality. In this way it would become the guiding factor of social life. According to this revolutionary perspective the alternative to the abstract utopia of ideal models can not be the possibilist capitulation (the cowardice known, tangible and practicable versus the still unknown, hypothetical and unworkable excellence), but the overcoming of this false alternative through a general theory of design praxis, or if you prefer, a design praxis. Understood as an organic set of criteria constantly aimed at an innovative action that should ultimately help us to generate, in the specific context of late-capitalist society, a fruitful relationship between critical consciousness and planning consciousness (Kotarbinski 1965; Preti 1957). This approach, which is influenced by the excessively abstract speculation, would in fact seem to impose or otherwise render the same design process scarcely applicable, even if in operational terms it might approach what Schön (1993, p. 12) calls “reflective conversation with the planning situation”, in an attempt, always active, to monitor any unwanted and unforeseen effects of the project itself, which by its very nature is extremely complex. Remo Siza, in his Progettare nel sociale (2003, p. 49), speaks of “collaborative pluralism” and “conflictual pluralism”, meaning the first a type of programming carried out with the “involvement of the community” and for the second a programming “in which the interests of individual groups are taken into account”. This entails the need to consider the environment in which we operate or in which the intervention or project is placed above all as a relational environment, comprising individuals involved in the whole intervention according to a communicative model of programming that emphasizes interaction and negotiation. To a synoptic programming that from the top tries to govern the complex of the dynamics of the sector, and, at the same time, the logic and expectations of profound deregulation that are affirmed in contemporary society are opposed to the need for local coordination of interventions, aggregation of subjects present in certain areas, the search for common operational tools. The designer himself recognizes that his skills are not unlimited and “accepts the fact that projects and action plans require continuous modification and careful adaptation in the light of continuous feedback and dialogue with the recipients” (Siza 2003, p. 49). From the design of a single decision maker who expresses the ability to interpret the needs and expectations of all the recipients, it will also be necessary to move towards a sharing of objectives and methods, goals and models. Planners will increasingly have to consider themselves as operating in a relational environment in the future. And the trend seems to go hand in hand with the need for bottom-up programming. The objectives of development and social cohesion cannot be achieved without the mobilization and accountability of the local subjects, in the logic of the empowerment of the citizen and of the community. On the basis of these premises, the present essay

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seeks to deepen the contents of planning in the transition from forms to absolute rationality to the expressions of dialogical design.

2 The Design Model of the Regulatory Organization The design has as its intrinsic foundation the creative possibility of the subject, of the designer, and as such is the expansion “of a culture and an active and convinced personality of the possibility of creating, dominating and orienting reality” (Gasparini 1987, p. 1611). Moreover, the author himself observes “in a broader sense all personal and social life is planning, because at all times (…) it is necessary to think about how and what to do” for the concrete translation of vital ideals: to realize the values in which one believes and for the satisfaction of one’s own needs. In the final analysis, the planning activity is nothing other than the man’s own will to have a vision of his own future, to try to orient it and set it by eliminating the uncertainties and solving irrational impulses. Beyond the psychological and cultural meanings, it is good to observe how the project activity is characterized in diversified terms in relation to the different scientific disciplines, even in the substantial and unitary recourse to basic criteria and principles and in the connections that link the different fields of knowledge. For many years, however, only the technical-engineering activity, or in any case linked to the world of production, technical achievements, urban planning, was intended for design activity. This approach gives great importance to rationality to achieve the goals of an organization based on the correspondence of the effects to extremely useful criteria. It starts from the hypothesis that it is possible to predict and control what happens through “the use of a scientifically guaranteed rationality, which has a strong explanatory and descriptive power of the phenomena and that then manages to give an order to the multiformity of the parts and variables - people included - present in the organizational system and in the production system. It is hypothesized that this order can be reached through standardization that is the emission of norms: people’s behaviors, interactions between parties, between individuals and groups within the organization, everything is modeled in the way more rational. In this approach the definition of the model is imposed by the designer, with the justification that there can not be a better way of doing things” (Olivetti Manoukian 1999, p. 5). The guarantee gives it its scientificity or, when we import organizational models successfully tested in other industrial and business contexts, this same success. The designer is very distant from reality because he draws it with intent of rationality: he does not get dirty with the episodicity of everyday life, he does not compromise with the multiformity of reality. In this model, it is important to look for generalizations, uniformities; the details are not interesting. The organization is designed as a closed system because, in order to plan and control, the variables must be reduced. Generally the most effective models take into consideration one variable, the technical one or the economic one; the others are excluded. In the event of a

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missed result, the fault is attributed to the inability to follow and execute what was planned or to reality, which did not adhere to the presented model (Olivetti Manoukian 1999, p. 5).

This design mode that can be defined as “absolute rationality design” is generally referred to as a narrow engineering and/or technical derivation. Physics, electronics, mechanics, according to current opinion, use this design approach. According to this view, which places the engineering activity at the center of all human activities, the main task of the engineer is the application of scientific knowledge to the solution of problems and subsequent optimization, taking into account technical and economic constraints. This activity of the engineer “touches all aspects of existence, because it relates to the discoveries of science and creates the conditions for applying its laws to the realization of products useful for human life” (Freddi and Vassura 1995–96, pp 1–2). Penny (1974) sees activity at the crossroads of two cultures, the humanistic and the scientific. The Engineering design would therefore be at the crossroads of a conceptual scheme that sees the nodal convergence of four polarizations: (1) the first proceeds from the Science of Politics, and taking into account the reflections of Sociology and Psychology it acquires the considerations and the results proper to Economics; (2) the second part from the Art, to consider the artistic design and its application as an Industrial design; (3) the third one considers as a pre-eminent the path that Science, perhaps understood as a general scientific principle, transforms and passes through the Sciences applied to engineering; (4) the fourth takes into account the needs of production through knowledge and technological applications (Engineering technology). The general design method requires step-by-step analysis and synthesis in the course of which design work can be seen as a process of information transformation. It can be summarized in a block diagram that, starting from the assigned task or from the basic problem of the design activity (Task or problem) arrives to propose its resolution (Solution), the scheme can well represent the logical steps of the process design. It refers to six distinct and connected areas: (1) the comparison of the problem with what is already known (Confrontation); (2) the completion of information on the problem (Information); (3) the definition of the essential problems in order to fix the objectives and the constraints (Definition); (4) the actual design that identifies with the essentially “creative” phase (Creation) of the design process; (5) the evaluation of the possible options for the solution of the problem (Evaluation check); (6) the decisional moment (Decision) that is located at the end of the process scheme.

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This last phase of decision-making or rather of “decision-making” (Decision) is however equally changeable according to an algorithm that can be summarized in the diagram of a logical-verification flow-chart which, starting from the cognitive acquisitions of which one is in possession (Previous step), in terms of an evaluation of the results achieved in terms of satisfaction with the objectives to be achieved (Are the results satisfactory in terms of the objective?). Finally, the organization of the engineering design process includes: (a) the clarification of the final objective, which consists in defining the requirements and constraints to the project; (b) the conceptualization of the project, which concerns the definition of the functional structures, the solution principles and the analysis of the possible variants; (c) what is defined as a “constructive outpost”, to be understood as “definition of the layout of the general distribution scheme and of the forms, in accordance with technical and economic considerations” and allows “a control of the functions (…) and the project feasibility analysis” (Schön 1967, p. 128; see also Penny 1974; Pahl and Beitz 1988); (d) the actual realization process, with the definition of forms, properties, dimensions, components and all the other variables in detail (Freddi and Vassura 1995–96, pp. 3.1–3.4). Without wishing to go further to analyze the specifications of this design process—which can be referred to with a good substance to the realization of a product—it should be noted that the centrality of the designer is fundamental. The model has also been borrowed in other contexts, including the design of services and social organizations. It has been rightly pointed out that “the consultant or the manager who adopts this approach conceives the design as a process aimed at identifying with precision the tools, the means and the procedures for achieving the pre-established results. (…) Designing (…) means prefiguring, foreseeing and planning intentionally and a priori the actions that people will have to perform to achieve the pre-established objectives” (D’Angella and Orsenigo 1999, p. 53). In designing an institution, an organization, a production line, but also a social or health service, who proceeds according to the typical “absolute rationality design” approach, “it considers the parts and persons (…) as variables that are totally dependent, manipulated and controllable by the designer to achieve the pre-established objectives. (…) There is the conviction that the manager, the consultant, the operator who designs is the one who defines the problem and constructs a complete and optimal representation of the different actions for its solution” almost in a demiurgic sense. It is based on the scientific organization of work, which allows the individuation of the “right man in the right place” (ibid., p. 53) and trust in scientific methods that can guarantee the certainty of the project purpose through their “neutrality”, their claim and undoubted objectivity. The design choice is rational because it is based on scientific and therefore indisputable methods (Sidoti 1983, p. 176). It is however, and conversely, to point out that “designing the actions in such a way as to be able to define a priori the procedures to achieve the pre-established objectives is useful when you have very clear work tasks when you want to produce

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in series exactly the same product, when the repetitiveness of the product and the precision play a fundamental role (see also Morgan 1995). In other contexts of more complex structuring both in terms of decision-making, and where the emotional component is higher, such as in personal services, where there is a strong emotional involvement and where often situations of extreme subjective fragility must be faced but they go differently. An interesting approach to decision-making can be found e.g. in Maturo et al. (2016) or Hoskova-Mayerova and Maturo (2018). In the daily processes of social services it is not always possible to “plan the problems, if not at the cost of cutting or manipulating them, to such an extent that they become something other than the real situation” (D’Angella and Orsenigo 1999, page 57).

3 Design, Complexity and Contingent Rationality The design according to the schemes and the approach of “absolute rationality” is therefore defined scientifically. It is on the certainty and on the indefectibility referred to the science that is founded, among other things, its validity and the ability to be “superior to the interests of part”. But nothing can be objected to in this regard, it is more fallible, questionable and uncertain than a scientific path: “every knowledge is conjectural, hypothetical, provisional (…) reason must postulate its fallibility” and this has historically been the main and convinced assertors of the scientists themselves. Galileo himself fixes antidogmatism as the constitutive principle of all scientific knowledge: against dogmatism he emphasizes the limits of human reason in general, and of his own in particular, explicitly reconnecting with the great precedent of Socratic skepticism: Hoc unum scio, me nihil scire” (Sidoti 1983, p. 177). The primary purpose of science is not to discover the “truth”, but to prevent error, “to determine the limits of reason”; any observation considered to be solidly positive is in fact hypothetical and provisionally unstable. Karl Popper, in The Logic of Scientific Research, states in this regard that “science is not a system of certain assertions, or established once and for all, nor is it a system that constantly advances towards a final state… old ideal of the episteme—of absolutely certain, demonstrable knowledge—turned out to be an idol. The need for scientific objectivity makes it inevitable that every assertion of science remains necessarily and forever to the state of attempt… Not possession of knowledge, of irrefutable truth, makes man of science, but research, critical, persistent, restless of the truth” (Popper 1959, p. 308–311). The direct consequence of all this is that anyone involved in the design can not operate in a “demiurgic” sense and have full mastery of a planning situation. Instead, it will be necessary to operate through a fragmentation of the same project in smaller units and following a decomposing procedure that delimits and in some way restricts the field and the objectives in many smaller, more perceptible and empirically controllable units, endowed with a sort of internal flexibility that allows for changes and adaptations to be made in a short time.

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This design process could be defined as “contingent rationality” or limited, since, excluding the possibility that a single path can be rationally controlled by a single subject, involves the redistribution of design tasks and responsibilities to a multiplicity of subjects. And even engineering design that Engineering Design which, in many ways, has been seen, seems to be emblematically the maximum expression of design with “absolute rationality” must acknowledge and recognize the limits of the individual’s cognitive possibilities. Due to the complexity of modern technology, a project can hardly be the result of a single person’s work; on the contrary, they need organized work groups that must communicate with each other during all the design phases. The development process of a project must then be essentially “planned with care and executed in a systematic way, so that each phase must be decomposable in several phases, each with its own working method” (Ullman 1992). The question is therefore no longer that of finding the ideal structure and functioning, as in the approach of scientific rationality, but “the best possible solutions to the problems that gradually arise”, making choices that are very contingent but perfectly functional. The example of the ants looking for the way home is known, which solve the problem of finding the way home, even in the presence of numerous interruptions and deviations (see Simon 1969, pp. 41–42). A design thus set would also allow to “break down the organization and identify within it different levels and different logics with which to tackle the problems: if we take, for example, the technical subsystem, we can think that designing is important to resort to sciences and knowledge that allows to articulate the problems in sub problems gradually simpler, circumscribed and well formulated, such that they can be solved. Necessarily, only some variables are considered, reducing the uncertainty of the issues, and in particular those on which the technical knowledge can effectively intervene” (Olivetti Manoukian, cit.). Obviously this approach involves a specialization of skills and knowledge. Every problem can be solved by experts who know how to intervene effectively and efficiently. It seems, with good substance, to be based on the belief that it is necessary to solve every problem through “the application of specialized skills, emphasizing the specialization of knowledge to arrive at diagnoses that in the shortest time allow to specify the appropriate design intervention to eliminate the problem”. The design of “contingent rationality” presupposes constant interaction with the environment and with increasingly complex and changing variables, it should be ready to accept every change, every little transformation of reality. Every change generates new information, new variables to understand, interpret, manage and control; all this contributes to increasing the level of uncertainty in the definition of actions aimed at solving problematic situations. For the “limited rationality” design, complexity must not be reduced, but articulated, broken down to identify simpler problems that can be more easily resolved. The project in this context becomes the product of a “learning process open to understanding each time the cognitive moves to be carried out to achieve its purpose and to construct new representations of the problem” (Lanzara 1993, p. 110).

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Finally, planning is seen in its potential to solve problems, according to the flexible lines of a real problem solving. This method, as a procedure for deciding the satisfactory solution of a problem, represents the maximum expression of this design mode. It allows “to formulate flexible and adaptable projects to the turbulences and to the organizational uncertainties” (D’Angella and Orsenigo, cit.), although it is not free from risks and problems. In the first place, this type of project could give rise to the belief that it is possible to solve all problems through the application of specialized skills. Secondly, it is good to point out that the parceled problem is however organically different from the whole: a complex problem is not simplified by dividing it into small solvable problems, in this way it is transformed into another.

4 Relationship Design and Communication Dimensions The “limited rationality” design, while opening new spaces and perspectives of greater flexibility to the work of designers, programmers and planners, therefore poses problems regarding the organic vision of the overall project and the understanding of the same sense of planning. What we can call “dialogical rationality” design tends to take the form of participatory terms with regard to both the designers themselves and the potential target (whether they are citizens, customers, users, etc.). The latter are all considered as actors in the design activity and drivers of change that project activity hopes, to recover the profound meaning, above all of a value, of design. Considered according to innovative perspectives with respect to the past, the design settings “are to be placed within a more general line of studies that includes various disciplines, from sociology to biology, from anthropology to physics, have assumed that change is not something of deductible and controllable, but it is the product of interactions that are not always predictable and takes place within ambiguities that can not be eliminated” (Olivetti Manoukian, cited in page 7). The design, in this perspective, is not something detached or abstract, but all in all it coincides with the design situation. This obviously implies that subjective interferences must be considered in the design. Designing satisfactory solutions for problem solving depends not only on the “levels of uncertainty produced by the complexity of the environment, but also on the complexity of the mental processes of the social actor. Different levels come into play in the cognitive and emotional design, (…) feelings, emotions, values, moods, phantasms, unconscious mechanisms, ambivalences. Therefore the elaboration of the information in the design processes are impaired, conditioned by a series of subjective interferences of an affective nature, often unconscious, that can alter, modify, manipulate the data of reality so that they are congruent with our systems of expectations and judgment” (D’Angella and Orsenigo, cit., pp. 62–63). Design must therefore be understood as “an intersubjective process of research, communication and collective construction negotiated between several subjects”

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Consequently, dialogical planning is configured as an “activity of production of “possible worlds”, of invention and realization of artefacts, materials and symbols, an exploratory and constructive activity aimed at researching and defining problems” (Lanzara 1993, p. 110). In contexts marked by high doses of uncertainty and ambiguity, the focal problem in design “is not so much what the solution is, but what the problem is basically” if it is not shared equally and equally by all the actors in the field. The failure of the projects often depends on the fact that the problem is not felt and recognized so important, essential to have to invest energy, resources and time. For the “dialogic rationality” design, the construction of a “common” meaning of the problem is fundamental (Fabbri 1990; Munari 1993). The priority issue is therefore to build the sharing, even partial, of problematic situations. Sharing possible on the basis of the personal cognitive maps that each participant of participatory planning uses “to give meaning and meaning to things, to events, to actions. Each map thus contains the values, the summary descriptions of events or things, their cognitive styles, the method learned to know, the memory of previous knowledge and the solutions activated in problematic situations” (see Weick 1988). E˙ on the basis of these subjective maps, contradictions, differences of opinions and strategies are produced. “The design in the process of constructing a shared meaning of the problem is enunciation, exchange, interaction, conflict between the different maps, with the great effort” to build a common “way of reading, understanding and interpreting the problem” (D’Angella and Orsenigo, cit., p. 64). The communicative dimension is a substantial dimension of the design, which “confers rationality, in the sense that it allows a collective formulation of the relevant problems, a search, a comparison and a validation of possible solutions. In short, it is a vehicle that allows transactions, exchanges, agreements, conflicts, cognitive inquiries relevant from the social point of view, not only for the quality of design solutions” (Ciborra and Lanzara 1984, p. 66). This planning method presupposes the actor’s willingness to “attentively listen” to the planning situation and therefore to being open to questioning and sharing the value choices that allow us to articulate and guide the consensus towards the objectives we intend to pursue.

5 Conclusions For the application of these concepts it is obviously necessary the predisposition of a flexible and intersubjective organizational articulation. In this perspective it is therefore considered indispensable: (a) the involvement of the client in defining the tasks of the project to clarify all the requirements and characteristics, so that the project can fully satisfy the client’s expectations;

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(b) the creation of inter-functional and interdisciplinary groups, which face the project as a whole, and of cultural conditions in the company to accept the new organizational principles, and above all the simultaneous management of the project and the variants; (c) the involvement of suppliers in the project and in economic responsibility (see Freddi 1995–96, pp. 7.8 and 7.9). Another indispensable prerequisite is the creation of a work team, a team-work that includes all the subjects that enter the production cycle from the designer to the recipient (customer or user). The starting point of a Concurrent Engineering program is actually constituted by the acquisition, organization and analysis of the knowledge proper to the client’s requests. If the clarification of the task is the first phase of a correct design, from the perspective of Concurrent Engineering, this phase can use the method that goes under the name of “clarification of the quality function” (Quality Focused Development). The criteria of this method focus for the most part on the “identification of the customer and underline the importance of a privileged approach to listening to the voice of the client, user, target audience” (Freddi 1995–96, p. 8). Although according to different methods and objectives, the project still implies a process of discussion, dialogue, exchange, conflict, contraposition and risk. These dimensions show how design is a process of interaction in which all the actors involved in the project are emotionally and cognitively coimplified. Weick (1988) argues that organizing, intended by him as planning, is a process that is constituted and built in interaction. In this sense the management or resolution of a problem can not be sought by a designer outside the interaction processes. The sense of the action or of the problem can not always be built a priori, but is the result of continuous, dynamic, fluctuating interaction. In the model of the “construction of meanings” the problems are not knowable through a linear relation, “relations do not necessarily occur in sequence, nor between all the elements. A network of relationships is created; one exits from an in-line arrangement or from a circle arrangement and one enters the configuration of the lattice, the one used to describe the complex systems” (Fabbri 1994, pp. 47–48). Design as a collective process of meaning construction develops through communicative interventions, that most of the planning activities consist of control activities and daily administration, and this implies discretion, negotiation, and mediation (Forrester 1998). The planner who wants to achieve his goals must adopt managerial practices of a communicative nature, must build coalitions and networks of consensus (Siza, cit., p. 102). The exchanges and the flow of information are no longer regulated by rigid procedures to which each actor must abide, but must be negotiated and learned. In this sense, planning requires an emotional effort, a considerable investment, because it activates a constant confrontation with the project situations, which in turn presuppose a continuous listening and the uninterrupted availability to review their knowledge and their positions, to confront each other. Reflexively with its own values to build day by day the meaning of one’s life and one’s own future.

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References Buckminster Fuller, R.: Education Automation. Southern II Illinois University Press, Carbondale (1962) Ciborra, C., Lanzara, G.F.: Progettazione delle nuove tecnologie e qualità del lavoro, p. 66. FrancoAngeli, Milano (1984) D’Angella, F., Orsenigo, A.: La progettazione sociale, p. 53. Edizioni Gruppo Abele, Torino (1999) Fabbri, D.: La memoria della regina. Guerini, Milano (1990) Fabbri, D.: Il metodo della complessità sociale. In: Animazione Sociale, n. 6/7, pp. 47–48 (1994) Forrester, J.W.: Pianificazione e potere. Dedalo, Bari (1998) Freddi, A., Vassura, G.: Principi e metodologie della progettazione meccanica, dispense, 4th ed., Bologna, pp. 1–2 (1995–96) Gasparini, A.: Progettazione. In: Demarchi, F., Ellena, G.B., Cattarinussi, F. (eds.) Nuovo dizionario di Sociologia. Edizioni Paoline, Milano, p. 1611 ss (1987) Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Maturo, A.: Decision-making process using hyperstructures and fuzzy structures in social sciences. In: Collan, M., Kacprzyk, J. (eds.) Soft Computing Applications for Group Decision-making and Consensus Modeling. Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing, vol. 357. Springer, Cham (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60207-3_7 Kotarbinski, T.: Praxiology—An Introduction to the Sciences of Efficient Action. Pergamon Press, Oxford (1965) Lanzara, G.F.: Capacità negativa. Competenza progettuale e modelli di intervento nelle organizzazioni, Il Mulino, Bologna (1993) Maldonado, T.: La speranza progettuale. Ambiente e società, 3a ed., Einaudi, Torino (1973) Maturo, A., Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Soitu, D.T., Kacprzyk, J., (eds.): Recent Trends in Social Systems: Quantitative Theories and Quantitative Models. Book Series: Studies in System, Decision and Control, vol. 66. Springer International Publishing AG, 426 p (2016), https://doi.org/10.1007/ 978-3-319-40585-8 Morgan G. (1995), Images. Le metafore dell’organizzazione, FrancoAngeli, Milano Munari, A.: Il sapore ritrovato. Conoscenza, apprendimento, formazione. Guerini, Milano (1993) Olivetti Manoukian, F.: Generare progettualità sociale. Introduzione. In: AA. VV., La progettazione sociale, EGA. Edizioni Gruppo Abele, Torino (1999) Pahl, G., Beitz, W.: Engineering Design, a Systematic Approach. Springer, Berlin (1988) Penny, R.K. (ed.): Experimental Method, Introductory Engineering, 1st edn. Prentice Hall Press, Upper Saddle River (1974) Popper, K.R.: The Logic of Scientific Discovery. Routledge, London (1959) Preti, G.: Praxis and empiricism. Einaudi, Turin (1957) Schön D. A.: The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action, Routledge, London and New York (1993) Schön, D.: Technology and Change. The New Heraclitus, A. Seymour Lawrence Book. Delacorte Press, New York, p. 128 (1967) Sidoti, F.: I limiti della razionalita pubblica: evoluzionisti e razionalisti nella teoria sociologica. Edizioni di Comunità, Milano (1983) Simon, H.A.: The Sciences of the Artificial. The MIT press, Cambridge, it. tr. (1973), Le scienze dell’artificiale, ISEDI, Milano (1969) Siza R.: Progettare nel sociale. Regole, metodi e strumenti per una progettazione sostenibile, FrancoAngeli, Milano (2003) Ullman, G.D.: The Mechanical Design Process. McGraw-Hill, New York (1992) Weick, K.: Organizzare. La psicologia dei processi organizzativi. ISEDI, Milano (1988)

Sociological Analysis and Social Change Vincenzo Corsi

Abstract Social change involves society or specific aspects of social life in an ongoing way, affecting the culture, the economy, the politics and the demography. Similar phenomena can recur in different ways and with different timings. In the context of sociological theories, social change has been described and interpreted using concepts which aim at defining empirically the boundaries of a phenomenon and at measuring the presence and the qualitative and quantitative relevance of such phenomena. The sociologist is requested to analyse the phenomenon, its boundaries and its dynamics. However, every day life shows characteristics that are not always easily referred to clear models. Phenomena and the indicators that are used to measure social change are sometimes unclear with regards to their semantic definition and their measurement. In this paper, after a short presentation of the concept of social change in some sociological classical authors, I discuss the aspects of the phenomenon which can be analysed in the context of fuzzy logic. Keywords Sociology · Social change · Sociological theories of social change · Methods of social research

1 Social Change, Theory and Analysis Social change is analysed theoretically and empirically by the sociology of origins. Different aspects involved in the social change are given by the modification, either in the social context or in the social organisations involved, of the conditions of social production and reproduction: economic, political and cultural changes. Change is a series of structural mutations with consequences for the social actions of individual actors and for the collectivity. This is an ongoing phenomenon.

V. Corsi (B) Department of Management and Business Administration, “G. d’Annunzio” University—Chieti–Pescara, Viale Pindaro, 65127 Pescara, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_35

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Classical theories present social change as the mutation of the society which evolves from a pre-modern organisation to a more modern structure. Comte (1830–1842), Marx (1859) or Spencer (1874–1896), sociologists of the 19th century, present theories that aims at explaining, from a social and historical point of view, social change and at foreseeing the direction of the change. Comte’s theories of the three-stages law, Spencer’s evolutionism and Marx’s dialectic materialism share this perspective. Between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, Durkheim and Weber take an empirical stance, suggesting an interpretation of social change as a progressive realisation of change processes in social organisation. Durkheim (1893) defines social change as a progressive affirmation of the division of labour, he divides societies according to the difference between mechanical solidarity, typical of pre-modern societies, which shows a low division of labor and poor social differentiation, and organic solidarity typical of modern society with a high division of social labour and strong social differentiation. Weber (1905, 1922) identifies in the process of secularisation and in the progressive affirmation of instrumental rationality the elements characterising modern societies. Analysing the production of the sociologists of the 19th century, it is possible to observe a common element: to the concept of social mutation is preferred the idea of social change, evolution, development, progress, social revolution (Crespi 1993). The common feature of this representation of the concept consist in the idea that society is in a process of uninterrupted improvement. Society is seen as an evolving system that, through different stages of progress, moves forward to forms of increasing social differentiation, of growth, of integration and of order. Evolution and progress are the concepts that best define the transition from an agricultural society to an industrial society. Social change is a theme of theoretical and empirical interest in the sociology of both the 19th and the 20th century. Today we can identify theories of change whose interpretative and descriptive purposes are connected to the changes that happen in society, globally and locally, and that involve aspects of the organisation of the societies. To this aspects are related indicators that define quantitative and qualitative details of the ongoing changes. Sociology is interested in understanding and explaining the nature, the direction and the speed of social change. Change can happen in a gradual and uninterrupted way—with social modification of short, medium or long period—or in a discontinuous way. Discontinuous changes are the most frequent in society and present problem of methodological classification. The discontinuity of the processes makes unclear the character of the changes and the identification of the variables involved. The reconstruction of classical and contemporary theories of social change allows the identification of a common matrix in the comparative analysis of different moments. The study of social change in sociology consists of the measurement of the variation between before and after (e.g. dimension of the urbanisation processes, reduction of illiteracy, change in the birth rate, death rate, increment of labour division, change in values, modification in the social layers, etc.).

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Social change happens in the transition from a social situation to another; this transition can be described according to a logic of measurement and classification given by statistics and mathematical tools. Considering that social change is never an isolated event, but a process that develops in an irregular, often discontinuous, way, the measurement of variables cannot be made within a logic of complete or empty figures of the characteristics of a determined society, but can be made applying a logic of undetermined variable, according to fuzzy logic, i.e. allowing partial verification of the statement that describes the event. The statement is never completely true or false: it present itself with possible shades of truth and falsehood. The measurement and the classification of variables that identify social changes in relation to the identification and organisation of data should happen not only according to exclusive, completely defined, figures (e.g. cluster analysis), but in relation to partial figures which can better represent the complexity of the phenomena that are investigated by the empirical research.

2 Social Change in the Sociology of Origin The concept of social change describes the transformation in the structures and in the dynamics of cultural, political, economic, demographic production and re-production of societies that are produced in a determined range of time creating variation in the material and immaterial dimensions of the social systems involved (Gallino 1993). The definition stresses the plurality of the variables involved that, in order to determine the change, must be deployed in such a way that they modify, in a non temporary way, the system; they change the structural characteristics of the society, the functional identities, the organisation of the economy of the politics, of the family. These changes can involve all the aspects of social organisation - economical, political, cultural and demographic - or some of them. The impact that social change has on the organisation of the society happens in relation to both the variable involved and the qualitative and quantitative dimension of such transformation. Social change can involve well-defined situations and clearly identified in space and time, or can concern crucial aspects for the equilibrium of the society, determining irreversible changes, with uncertain boundaries in space and time, creating a new balance between the aspects of the society and s new form of organisation of the society and of the territory. The sociological study of social change consist in the observation, the description and the interpretation of the mutations that occur in society, in the definition of relations of cause between variables in order to realise interpretative model that can be also used to foresee further changes. In the theory of sociological analysis, social change is a dominant theme and, for some aspects, it is at the very origin of the discipline. The attention for the analysis, in the theoretical and empirical aspects, of the change of societies is the consequence of the social transformation that happened in the western world starting with the two revolutions of the 18th century: the industrial revolution and the French

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revolution. The structures of the organisation and the forms of social reproduction and integration are overthrown by these two events that synthesise a larger process of social change started in the previous centuries and that has contributed to question the forms of organisation and regulation of economy, work, politics and culture of medieval matrix. The sociologists who worked during the 19th century and the first years of 20th century showed a constant interest for the description, the understanding and the interpretation of the processes of social change. The interpretation of social change during the 19th century was formulated according to the idea that societies are changing according to natural laws, hence the preference for the concepts of evolution, development and progress in order to interpret the ongoing processes. The concepts of evolution and progress assumed ideological connotations; evolution, development, progress are expression used to denote an advancement of the society towards better forms of organisation and integration, according to a logic of linear and irreversible change of contemporary societies (Nisbet 1966). The concept of social change appears in the sociology of the 20th century with an initial position of theoretical continuity with the themes and the concepts of European sociology of the 19th century. With the concept of social change sociologists referred to a series of transformation that involve the economic, political, cultural, religious, demographic, technological, ecological and social dimensions. Each of these dimensions express a series of concepts and variables that measure the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the change in the regulation of social relations and in the conditions that guarantees the social production and reproduction of the system. Sociology is interested in describing, explaining and interpreting nature, the direction and the speed of social change in order to predict the evolution of the processes in action. Change can appear in a gradual, continuous, incremental, discontinuous way. However, change is always a process, often characterised by discontinuity or by blur in the qualitative and quantitive dimensions of the variable involved. If we the take as an example Marx’s theory or Weber’s, it is possible to observe interpretations of social, economic and cultural transformations that involve society in the passage from a traditional organisation to a modern one, according to a dualistic conception that describes the social situation before and after. Marx defines change in the context of the transition of the society evolving from a primitive community-sharing to slavery, service, capitalism and lastly communism. On the other hand, Weber focuses on the cultural aspects linked to the transformation of society, defined as a process of rationalisation, from traditional to rational. In the work of sociologists who belong to the classical tradition of the discipline it is possible to identify aspects that focus on an evolutive conception of society and its transformation. Belonging to this traditions, in different ways, there are Spencer (1874–1875), who considered change as a passage from a military society to an industrial society to an ethic society; Durkheim (1893), with his theory of the division of social work and his model of social solidarity; Tönnies (1887), Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft, with his contraposition between community (Gemeinschaft) and society (Gesellschaft).

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3 Social Change as a ‘Vague’ Concept Theories of social change, different in the analysis and interpretation of empirical data (Boudon 1984; Leonardi 1962), are the consequence of an important interest of the social research. Social change is one of the theme of major interest in the theoretical and empirical research of Sociology, both at its origins and nowadays. The concept of social change defines a series of transformations—cultural, economic, politic and demographic, that invest society globally and locally. The concept, in its modern meaning, defines the changes that happens in society and involve many aspects of the social organisation. The reflection that we propose with this paper is not about the theories of change, but it focuses on the manifestations of the social change and on the way in which they appear and determine the passage from a system of social organisation to another. When we talk about phenomena of transformation of the organisation of social life, we discuss variables that can be identified as a dichotomy or otherwise we are in the context of processes in which change, from a previous social situation to another that follows, is blurry, gradual, indistinct and confused. A synthetic way to analyse the theories of change could be the observation of social changes considered as a dualistic alternative between traditional and modern society. Starting from the 50s, this transition is studied by theories of modernisation. The concept of development is associated with cultural changes, with mutations in public and economic institutions, with transformations in non economic variables of development (values, social customs, traditions, social layers, attitudes and behaviour). The main ideas of the theories of modernisation is that social change consists in the acquisition of the developing society of the characteristics of social organisations that belong to more advanced societies, linked to capitalistic social and economic development. Moreover, these theories suggest that the process of change is determined by a substantial convergence of the societies towards a common stage of development. We find this interpretation also in Parsons’ structural functionalist perspective that identifies some universal tendencies of change, common in all transforming societies (he refers to “evolutional universals). Change, for the American sociologist, is considered as a “functional differentiation” of social systems on the base of the AGIL paradigm, i.d. as an increment in the reciprocal relationships among social subsystems. With the assistance of “structural variables”, it is possible to identify alternative possibilities of action described in five pairs: (1) affection/neutrality; (2) diffusivity/specificity; (3) particularity/universality (4) orientation towards the collectivity/orientation towards the self; (5) inscription (attribution)/acquisition (realisation). The process of change is the consequence of the substitution of the orientation of the values according to a logic of transition, conceived as a duality between a traditional society and a modern society (Parsons 1951, 1967). Social change is based on the observation and on the comparative analysis of different moments of time. Studying change means to analyse and measure differences in of some qualitative and quantitative variable (e.g. the dimension of urbanisa-

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tion processes, the reduction of illiteracy, the modification of birth rate, death rate, migrations, the increase or decrease of social actions oriented by different values, modification of social stratifications and social mobility, analysis of attitudes and behaviours, of the orientation towards values of social actions). The change of a society (also of a local community) is the passage from a social situation to another, therefore, the analysis can be made following a determined logic and using statistical and mathematical tools to measure and analyse the social dimensions involved. Given that the structural transformation of a society is never regular, but continuous and discontinuous at the same time, the measurement of the variables, qualitative and quantitative, related to the changes in progress, cannot be given following a “complete or null” logic in the context of the group of the social, cultural, economic, political, demographic characteristics of a society, but must be given by ‘level s of description’ of the observed society. The measurement and the classification of the variables that reveal social change in relation to the identification and the classification of data (as, for the example, the cluster analysis) can be used assuming an exclusive definition of the positivity or negativity of the data, but also taking into account ‘partial definition’ that can acknowledge the complexity of the phenomena that are the object of the empirical research (Bailey 1982). The description of a certain situation of the social organisation can be described not in an exclusive way, but using different levels of possible belonging to a certain state. The study of social change can be informed by introducing the concept of ‘vagueness’; ‘vagueness’ is a property both of the language used to describe social phenomena and of the concept used in order to observe and measure the phenomena, with important consequences for the elaboration of the hypothesis of the research and for the determination of the indicators. The description of social change can be made using indicators which can assume plural meanings. The group of the variables that characterise social change can assume different values and cannot be described by a single meaning. It is not possible to formalise once and forever what group of variable can be assumed as characterising in a dual way social change; it is possible to elaborate some models of societies according to the value taken by determined indicators (pre-modern, modern and post-modern society, and similarly for other juxtaposed typologies: industrial and post-industrial, agricultural, industrial and of the services). What variable and values of the variable con we include in each group as an exclusive property of the group in order to define a society as belonging to the first, the second or the third type? Observing the organisation of a society or of a local community we can describe it on the base of a group of variables none of which is capable, on its own, of defining the system as a whole. Some variables appear similar, other can share some structural characteristics or characteristic of the previous social dynamic, other have common traits; none of the variables is determining in the totality of the system, none of the variables is exclusive of the system. The idea of social change, from this point of view, is a vague concept, social change is characterised by a level of vagueness present both in the indicators and in the qualitative and quantitative values taken by the indicators. The idea of social change includes a series of conceptual categories and indicators that inform the classification

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of the society according to variables commonly considered homogeneous, but that, in reality, take non defined, continuous, values. Vagueness is one of the characteristics of social conceptualisation: concepts are not defined boundaries of meaning. It is necessary, however, to consider that in social research concept are used as analytical and interpretative categories of the social reality: they are useful to identify empirical data related to the presence of a particular social phenomenon under investigation. The operative definitions, the indicators, allow to collect information on the analysed phenomena. Concepts play an important role in social research, they are useful for building classifying categories of concrete phenomenologies (Garzia and Ravelli 1985). The introduction of fuzzy logic with potentially unlimited potential values of a variable implies a reflection about the blurriness of the observed social reality (Ragin and Pennings 2005; Hoskova-Mayerova and Maturo 2018a, b).

4 Conclusion Differently from probability, where a statement is true within a determined level of statistical probability, as showed by sociological research of positivistic matrix, in fuzzy logic we can find different levels of trueness of a statement, levels that are deployed with different empirical evidence on the bases non of a calculation of statistical probability but on the basis of the belonging to a determined group: the observed social system belongs, with determined evidence, to the group of ageing societies, post industrial, etc. (Soitu 2015a, b). Social change is the result of the passage from a social situation to another where some variable are deployed in different ways compared to the previous situation. The measurement and the classification of the variables that identify social change according to the identification and categorisations of data in fuzzy logic should happen not according to an exclusive classification of belonging and not belonging, but in terms of partial belonging, which are able to include the complexity of the phenomena studied by the empirical research (Ragin 2000; Ragin Pennings 2005). Sociological methodologies are redefined and completed when in contact with the concrete reality of the social change.

References Bailey, K.D.: Methods of Social Research. The Free Press, New York (1982) Boudon, R.: Il posto del disordine. Critica delle teorie del mutamento sociale, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1985 (1984) Comte A. (1830–1842). Corso di filosofia positiva, UTET, Torino, 1967 Crespi, F.: Evento e struttura. Per una teoria del mutamento sociale, Il Mulino, Bologna (1993) Durkheim, E.: La divisione del lavoro sociale, Edizioni di Comunità, Milano, 1989 (1893) Gallino, L.: Dizionario di sociologia. UTET, Torino (1993)

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Garzia M., Ravelli, M.: Sociologica. Introduzione logico-matematica alla sociologia. FrancoAngeli, Milano (1985) Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Maturo, A.: Decision-making process using hyperstructures and fuzzy structures in social sciences. In: Collan, M., Kacprzyk, J. (eds.) Soft Computing Applications for Group Decision-making and Consensus Modeling. Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing 357, pp. 103–111. Springer, Berlin (2018a). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60207-3_7 Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Maturo, A.: On some applications of fuzzy sets for the management of teaching and relationships in schools. In: Models and Theories in Social Systems. Studies in System, Decision and Control, vol. 179. Springer, Cham, pp. 343–353 (2018b). https://doi.org/ 10.1007/978-3-030-00084-4_19 Leonardi, F.: Le categorie del mutamento sociale. In: Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia, III, 1, pp. 41–73 (1962) Marx, K.: Per la critica dell’economia politica. Editori Riuniti, Roma, 1974 (1859) Nisbet, R.: La tradizione sociologica. La Nuova Italia Editrice, Firenze, 1977 (1966) Parsons, T.: Il sistema sociale. Edizioni di Comunità, Torino, 1996 (1951) Parsons, T.: Teoria sociologica e società moderna. Etas, Milano, 1979 (1967) Ragin, C.C.: Fuzzy-Set Social Science. University of Chicago Press, Chicago (2000) Ragin, C.C., Pennings, P.: Fuzzy sets and social research. Sociol. Methods Res. 33(4), 423–430 (2005) Soitu, ¸ D.: Resilience and vulnerability—competing social paradigms? Scientific Annuals of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Ia¸si (New Series) Sociology and Social Work, vol VIII, no. 1., pp. 7–14 (2015b). Available at: http://www.phil.uaic.ro/index.php/asas/article/view/364/313 Soitu, ¸ D.: Social vulnerabilities and ageing. Scientific Annuals of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Ia¸si (New Series) Sociology and Social Work, tom VIII, pp. 73–82 (2015a). Available at: http:// www.phil.uaic.ro/index.php/asas/article/view/394 Spencer, H.: Principi di sociologia. UTET, Torino, 1967 (1874–1875) Tönnies, F.: Comunità e società. Edizioni di Comunità, Milano, 1963 (1887) Weber, M.: L’etica protestante e lo spirito del capitalismo. Sansoni, Firenze, 1974 (1905) Weber, M.: Economia e società. I. Teoria delle categorie sociologiche. Edizioni di Comunità, Torino, 1999 (1922)

Logic of Social Science and Social Innovation: Between Strategical Planning and New Partnership Welfare Models Stefano Pasotti

Abstract Community Planning Model, as a precisely addresses methodology of social programming within italian Law 328/2000, inaugurated the first great innovation of welfare system, referable to the forecast, building and implementation of Local Area Plans. During last years, further development of social programming models have been kept in comparison to different changing situations regarding governance dynamics, whose participation issues are the mainstream overview towards the full achievement of its efficacy, from the specific perspective of social protection policies. The aim of the article is to analyse some of the paths of change into social programming, evolving towards a new or renewed logic of welfare partnership, exploring consequently the value of relationships in participative approaches between public, non-profit and private sector, in order to optimize the dynamics of a collaborative multidimensional welfare model, as indeed expected to be and demanded by most recent regulatory accounts of European Community. Keywords Social science · Social innovation · Partnership welfare · Governance

1 Welfare Community and Social Innovation With the advent of social policies aimed at reducing the presence and intervention of the public apparatus on the provision of services, emerged the need for a deliberative connection and a negotiating capacity of various sectors for the production of well-being system in favor of citizens, especially in order to avoid the risk of the monopolization of services and resources. All this has led to the affirmation, in recent years, of the third form of welfare, i.e. the welfare mix based upon a new role of the State and the importance of profit or non-profit organizations in the production and promotion of activities and services for all users. The new welfare, in fact, entrusts the improvement of the quality of citizens’ life to four different sectors such S. Pasotti (B) “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara, Via Dei Vestini, 39, 66100 Chieti, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_36

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as the state, the market, the third sector and informal networks, seeking relationships between these as much as possible collaborative and synergistic. In such a new scenario, the State must deal with regulating the market, guaranteeing the quality of services and services provided, promoting forms of self-organization and accountability of citizens, encouraging the creation of associations and solidarity, supporting and enhancing forms of cooperation and participation of citizens and organizations in the planning and design of services and interventions, reinforcing their propositive skills, in such a way as to create a company that takes care of itself (Brunod et al. 2016). In the welfare mix, therefore, new actors of social policy come into play, including voluntary organizations, foundations, social promotion associations and local communities, creating local networks of solidarity, synergistic and participatory relationships for effective social planning and efficient. It is possible to talk about a corporate welfare, as it develops over time a model of social programming capable of enhancing community resources and strategies, of promoting complementary relations and cooperative plural actors, and of stimulating objectives and tools to promote and expand the autonomy and decision-making skills of the subjects that make up and create such an open system. In this context, users and families are not considered as passive recipients of actions and benefits, but take an active and responsible role, both in defining needs and objectives and as partners in the construction of social welfare (De Ambrogio and Guidetti 2016; Soitu and Johansen 2017). Therefore, social planning can be defined as that decision-making process, within a complex and participatory institutional system, which ends with the drafting of an integrated and multilevel program, which provides objectives, activities, tools and adequate resources to influence and change the social system, in order to respond to problems whose solution has a cultural relevance of great interest. Among the main planning perspectives we find the most innovative one, that is, strategic planning. This is a convergence approach, as it includes a plurality of methods based on interaction, process and negotiation, and starts from the assumption that the planner possesses limited interpretative skills and, therefore, the communication processes of continuity are fundamental. comparison with the other stakeholders. The term “strategic” derives from the decision-making procedures in which the programming is carried out and which are based on the search for communicative, integrative and coordination networks between the social actors. The choices that derive are not only taken by the single planner, but are the product of the interaction and the mediation of the planner with other decision makers. Strategic planning, based on objectives and directions defined in detail, develops the transformation project, creates dialogues and alliances, promotes cooperation actions and pays continuous attention to the consequences produced by each action implemented, so as to adapt the project in progress. ever changing environmental needs (Urban and Hoskova-Mayerova 2017). Una modalità di pianificazione interessata non tanto alla produzione di un piano, quanto alla comprensione dei problemi attuali e futuri, ad assumere ora le migliori decisioni nella direzione di un futuro migliore a cui debba subordinarsi il presente, tanto che, in questa

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ottica i piani perdono ogni pretesa di esaustività e assumono necessariamente un carattere sperimentale (Merlo 2014, p. 108).

Strategic planning does not focus attention on the elaboration of a plan, on its evaluation and subsequent implementation, as it represents only a reference point and as such provides indications and not obligations, does not impose the action to be performed. All this derives from its basic idea according to which, through the negotiations, comparisons and dialogues of the various actors, the objectives and lines of action are modified and undergo continuous adjustments according to the understanding of the problems and, above all, in view of a better future. This planning model does not foresee the future and does not make decisions that can not be changed, so everything remains open to the uncertainty of what will happen. It is necessary to highlight some fundamental points that characterize and make strategic planning recognizable such as: • the idea that knowledge is produced in the course of the action; • the plan is the result of a continuous process of comparison, dialogue and negotiation between the different social actors; • the importance given to citizens participation throughout the decision-making process; • the vision of implementation as a integrated part of the project itself; • the prediction of continuous checks because planning is a process of adaptation to the environment. In recent years, therefore, the transition from public to company and private programming has been observed. Among these there is a great difference, as the former asserts a general vision of the company and the direction in which it wants to go, setting itself the main objective of guaranteeing the use to all citizens of services and services that meet their needs and rights, while in the second the private sector, profit or non-profit, defines and implements its lines of intervention not on the basis of a general logic, but according to its mission and production capacity. Private programming causes an exponential increase in the provision of services that often overlap in some areas of intervention, but leaving other spaces completely devoid of adequate answers. Therefore, an organization of the Third sector can deal effectively and efficiently with a specific problem, including through the definition and implementation of integrated and concerted interventions with public services, but its focus will always and inevitably be well delimited. Only public planning can ensure the inclusion of private action in a global vision of response to rights, difficulties and uncertainties, in a territorial vision of large areas, and determine at the same time a homogeneous and fair distribution of services on the territory. In such a context, it is obvious that public power must preserve and promote two fundamental tasks: 1. to encourage, enhance and support the experience and knowledge of the organizations operating in the territory, inserting them fully into the public planning process;

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2. to experiment and introduce into plans and programs the same actions of promotion and support so that on the one hand those who already work in the territory can do it in the best conditions, and on the other hand can incentivize other subjects to be born and grow in those contexts and on problems and difficulties in which there are objective deficiencies. For all that has been said so far, the principle of subsidiarity has favored the birth of a plural, concerted, negotiated and integrated programming among the various actors that in various ways affect the territory and the social culture. In this way a society with a widespread responsibility is created which, in recognizing each person’s functions and competences, tends to promote the idea of personal responsibility, thus contributing in an organic way to the establishment of a social protection and promotion system, towards a “fluent” governance for policies, citizens and institutions (Venditti et al. 2015; Pasotti and Scardigno 2017).

2 Towards a Multidimensional Social Planning Model The plural programming is based on that model which has been previously defined as incremental, which is characterized by the involvement in every situation of a multiplicity of actors, each of which contributes with its own point of view to the decision-making process. It produced the transition from government, that is the government function entrusted only to the public entity, to governance, that is the government activity carried out thanks to the mobilization of different public subjects and private social and of civil society, from the subsidiarity perspective (Brunod et al. 2016, pp. 47–50). The plural programming comes to life from the involvement and participation of the public and private sectors to a network of collaborative and collaborative relationships, giving rise to negotiation forms and social partnership, and it is not just a simple organization, but a fundamental part of the decision-making process that gives it greater quality. Private actors to take part in the plural programming must have three main requirements: 1. the legitimate interest, that is, their subjective purposes can effectively be traced back to general objectives; 2. representativeness, that is the ability of the stakeholders to interpret and bring back the vision and the instances they express; 3. the design capacity, which consists in the competence of the actors to confront and adapt to the various programming methods that may require different points of view. The main subjects that can be involved with different roles in plural programming are:

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• the United Nations Organization, which does not take part in social planning, but its acts (e.g. the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, etc.) are very important points of reference for national planning and local. • The Council of Europe and the European Union, which guarantee and protect the respect of the personal, political, economic and social rights of citizens, and make the European Structural Funds available for the promotion of economic and social cohesion, which It is essential in the field of programming. • The State, which in addition to maintaining relations with international organizations operating in the social policy field, carries out, as stated by 328/2000 Law, specific guidance and coordination functions in determining: the principles and objectives of social policy through the drafting of the National Plan of interventions and social services; the essential and uniform levels of performance; the minimum structural and organizational requirements of public and private entities that contribute to the creation of the social services network; the criteria for the allocation of resources from the National Fund for Social Policies; as well as, lastly, the revision of the pensions, checks and allowances due to the civil disabled and the verification of the health requirements that gave rise to economic benefits of civil invalidity. In terms of vertical subsidiarity, the State is entrusted with tasks of first assistance in favor of refugees and foreigners to be expelled, coordination of interventions in favor of war refugees and victims of terrorism and organized crime. • Regions that hold all the functions and administrative tasks in the field of social services. Article 8 of the law 328/2000 states that Le regioni esercitano le funzioni di programmazione, coordinamento e indirizzo degli interventi sociali nonché di verifica della rispettiva attuazione a livello territoriale e disciplinano l’integrazione degli interventi stessi, con particolare riferimento all’attività sanitaria e sociosanitaria (Legge 328/2000 Legge Quadro per la realizzazione del sistema integrato di interventi e servizi sociali).

From the first paragraph of this article of the 328 Law, the main functions performed by the Regions for planning, direction, implementation, integration and verification of social interventions are highlighted, giving importance to consultation with the health activity. Therefore, the Regions will have the following main overall functions, with the modalities of collaboration and cooperation with local authorities and third sector bodies: the planning of integrated policies on social service, environment, health, school, work, transport and communications; the coordination and direction of local social interventions, also with the definition of quality requirements for the management of services and for the provision of services; the definition of territorial areas, providing incentives for the associated exercise of social functions in territorial areas that normally coincide with the health districts already operating for health services; the promotion of experimentation with innovative models of local network system services; the regulation of the accreditation and surveillance systems of public management or private social structures and services; the definition of the parameters for the competition of the users at the cost of the services, as well as the

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determination of the criteria for the definition of the tariffs that the municipalities are obliged to pay to the accredited subjects. • The Provinces, which play a role of coordination between bodies of different levels resulting intermediate actors between the municipality and the region. Beyond specific attributions deriving from regional legislation, the provinces are involved in: contributing to the determination of the objectives contained in the plans and programs of the Region; formulate and adopt its own programs both general and sectoral, providing for their specification and implementation; carry out collection and processing of data on the needs and activities of technical-administrative assistance to local authorities; promote training and professional development initiatives, as well as contributing to the definition and implementation of the area plans. • Municipalities, which “hold the administrative functions concerning the interventions carried out at the local level, and contribute to regional planning” (Legge 328/2000 Legge Quadro per la realizzazione del sistema integrato di interventi e servizi sociali, art. 6). The Municipality is the main local authority with a view to vertical subsidiarity, as it is the public institution closest to the citizen, which represents its community, takes care of its interests and promotes its development; he is the owner of his own functions and those conferred by law of the State or of the Region. In particular, the following tasks are assigned to the Municipalities: planning, planning and implementation of the local network of social services, also with the help of the Provinces and third sector entities; provision of services and economic and assistance services; the authorization, accreditation and supervision of social services and residential and semi-residential facilities; participation in the identification and definition of territorial areas; promotion and support of solidarity and reciprocity in the local area to encourage self-help actions; assessment of the quality and effectiveness of services, including participation in the control of citizens (Battistella et al. 2004). • The economic subjects of the market (companies, freelancers, etc.), i.e. ”those who professionally perform an organized economic activity for the purpose of production or exchange of goods or services” (Art. 2082 Codice Civile). These are all those actors who essentially perform a function of production and allocation of goods and services necessary for the local community to solve their problematic situations and improve the quality of life in the local area. • Third sector organizations, including non-profit organizations of social utility, social and international cooperation, voluntary and social promotion associations, social and banking foundations, patronage bodies, recognized organizations of religious confessions, but also trade unions and trade organizations, which essentially carry out functions to promote the rights, production and redistribution of resources between individuals and groups independently or on behalf of the State. The family understood as a natural society in which the personality of man takes place. This is the primary cell of society that, from the perspective of horizontal subsidiarity, performs multiple material, symbolic, relational and psychological func-

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tions oriented to personal care, the formation of well-being and the pursuit of social cohesion.

3 Social Integration and Planning: Operative Convergences In social programming two different approaches coexist: one per theme (e.g. gender, immigration, etc.) and the one of scope (portion of territory), which find a conjunction in integrated programming. The integration between policies and programs is, of course, a subject that involves the actors most distant from citizens, such as the European Union and the Ministries, but which becomes particularly important when, in local programming, progressively approaches the life of individuals. Integrated policies combine different objectives and implement a plurality of instruments and actors, favoring synergies between different sectors and levels of government: Fare integrazione facendo programmazione significa immaginare ed attuare degli scenari che abbiano come outcome finale la produzione di effetti integrati a livello sociale, operando sulle modalità della stessa programmazione (Merlo 2014, p. 182).

The purpose, therefore, is the production of a complex and diversified social change, placing itself as a bridge between social needs and problems of equity and social justice, through the guided creation of integrated effects on topics and subjects subject to programming, and consequently on the people’s lives. In this sense, social integration assumes a different meaning compared to its common meaning, referred to the possibility of access to rights only by those sections of the population considered disadvantaged, but it is understood as the result of a strategically integrated programming that concerns all individuals and, therefore, can not be considered as a residual process aimed exclusively at disadvantaged situations (De Ambrogio et al. 2013). The integration of elements that otherwise would continue to move on parallel lines tends to grasp the complexity of social issues, looks at people in their entirety, captures the interactions between the needs that characterize their social life, approaches discomfort not as an accumulation of needs that refer to separate answers, but as a unitary universe. There are many motivations that lead to the construction of integrated programs. A first reason is found in the matter of rights regarding the principles of their indivisibility and interdependence. According to the first, all human rights are equally important and must be considered as a whole, while the principle of interdependence affirms that the abuse of a right affects all the others, as well as the realization of a certain right contributes to the achievement of the right. totality of the rights themselves. For example, with the increase of economic poverty and social frailty, the right to health is not guaranteed, just as if the right to work is not guaranteed, the right to health is jeopardized. Therefore, choosing the integration of policies promotes the protection of individual and collective rights. A second reason is of a systemic nature:

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Sia l’agire sia il non agire sono in grado di produrre effetti, alcuni dei quali voluti, altri non voluti, alcuni positivi, altri negativi, alcuni diretti e altri indiretti, e che questi effetti possono costituire problemi sociali e diventare dunque oggetto di nuovi interventi in un nesso infinito di cause-effetti (Donolo 2006, p. 3).

In such an open and complex system, a policy aimed at achieving the objectives appears needed, but at the same time able to change according to the consequences produced from time to time, along with a cause-effect logic. Moreover, it is necessary to consider individuals within a global vision, since responding in a sectorial way to needs means to divide the person, thus risking to distort the nature of the problem. This highlights the importance of an integrated approach based on an overall view capable of grasping the relevant interconnections in the relationship between social problems and social policies. An additional motivation for the integration forecast arises from programmatic needs, especially from the need to optimize the available resources. In this sense, the public administrations to achieve the goal of integration must reorganize the economic and financial resources, even if they are often characterized by a strong rigidity towards social changes, and also must promote the synergies between different programs as a project to it alone would have less impact and higher costs. In a complex programming system, such as the one just described, the essential condition for fostering multilevel integration is linked to political intention, as this defines the framework of values, rights, objectives and actions on to base their intervention. Only through a political choice that promotes a single value context can one overcome the sectoral approach in favor of the connection and integration of different programs. The work of integration is complex and requires a lot of energy, as it must fight against a bureaucratic system that is still highly sectoral, self-referential and not inclined to consider society as a reservoir of resources as well as a pool of needs to be answered. Political intentionality, therefore, is decisive for the implementation of an overall program aimed at the development of society to increase the well-being of the population. Moreover, in this process it is very important the technical intentionality, understood as a contribution given both by the different structures and by the single people involved. Unlike the political actor responsible for making the decision, the technical actor performs what has been established according to his competences, trying to integrate them and harmonize them with what comes from the political sphere. Therefore, in a participatory political-administrative system, attention is not paid to subjective points of view, but to the adaptation and integration of different values, interests and opinions, for which the subjects involved acquire a degree of knowledge congruous to the plurality of the context. In order to promote social well-being, the preparation of an integrated network of social interventions and services is fundamental, in which the skills and experience of all the subjects, both institutional and non-institutional, aim at confluence, becoming a system of community governance. Focusing on integrated programming processes in a context of rethinking the welfare oriented welfare system means dealing not only with the contents that will characterize the future structure of services in the territory, but above all of the method used to define these contents, both by investing on the

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development of methodologies to build services that respond to citizens’ problems and to the needs of different territorial areas, both to promote and promote social activation processes, focusing on the importance of participation for community development. La dimensione che caratterizza la comunità trova il suo senso e significato più naturale nella partecipazione intesa quale mezzo di costruzione di mondi condivisi (Altieri 2009, p. 109).

In the community, active participation of all the belonging subjects is important, that is, they possess the ability to manage their own life and, together with others, the collective life. The participation of the individual and of the community in programs aimed at achieving common objectives fosters the development of the community and of the programming itself. Therefore, in this perspective there is a strong reference to the concept of active citizenship, to be understood as the ability of citizens to organize themselves in a multiform way, to mobilize human, technical and financial resources, to act in collaboration and concertation with all the actors present on the territory to achieve the purpose of improving the quality of common well-being. The participatory planning arises from the observation that the only superordinate and technical reading is not effective and efficient, but it is necessary to activate the skills and abilities of the territory to improve the quality of policies and programs, through both the recognition of social reality, to study and analyze in a more complete way the existing social issues and problems, and the redefinition and redevelopment of the operative context, providing intervention models that condemn passivizing practice in favor of an active social protection system able to mobilize, support and enhance the intervention both of the resources operating in the territory and of those living in difficult situations. For all this it can be concluded that integrated programming is based on strengthening the network and partnership between a plurality of complex subjects belonging to the political, technical and cultural dimension (third sector organizations and the community) to develop common visions, share priorities and consolidate mutual relations with the ultimate goal of social welfare.

4 Welfare Partnership as a “Natural” Delevopment of Social Programming Partnership process is based on a comparison between different parties (public or private entities, economic or social forces) regarding the definition and implementation of interventions aimed at economic growth, territorial development and integration, social. This method is widely used at Community level thanks to the importance that the European Commission’s own treaties assign to the democratic principle of participation in organized civil society, from which derive the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of European policies. The partnership is, therefore, a form of collaboration and co-participation of several subjects, who share aims and objectives of a program both actively participating

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in the various implementation phases of the same and being promoters based on a specific interest they are bearers of. Le partnership sono potenzialmente capaci di creare network di relazioni stabili fra i più disparati attori sociali (Ferrucci 2010, p. 102).

The social partnership arises from a joint action of a diversified plurality of public actors, the third sector and the market aimed at tackling complex problems from a common point of view, creating a network of reciprocal relationships in which the resources, capabilities and risks are shared and produce benefits both for the actors involved and for the local community in which they operate. This leads to interpersonal relationships between organizations and individuals from different sectors and sectors that facilitate the shared understanding of social problems, allowing the transition from the defense of heterogeneous interests to the identification of a common interest. The social partnership offers, in fact, the possibility of moving from a static conception of power rooted in the state institution to a more fluid shared power, developed and negotiated between the various partners. The development and dissemination of the partnership indicates the strong need for new methods of coordination and intra and inter-systemic collaboration in a condition of high structural and functional differentiation. In order to be able to speak properly of partnerships, there must be at least two agencies or subjects who are bearers of some common interest, or interdependencies, and the existence of a relationship between them that implies a certain level of trust, equality and reciprocity. These elements are necessary and sufficient to distinguish the partnership from other forms of coordination, such as the one existing between subjects linked by a subordination constraint, in which there is a party that orders and the other that suffers, or a typical contractual relationship market. We can distinguish two main macro-types of partner networks: • Strategic partnerships, which are formed on the basis of shared general objectives and with programmatic aims from which to subsequently originate projects and implementation interventions; • Project partnerships, formed, however, between bodies or bodies that decide to associate and start a project together, i.e. inter-related activities defined in the duration and available resources, whose unique specific objective is to provide a lasting flow of benefits to a given target group. Partners can therefore become part of a partnership network if: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

they are independent bodies; cooperate to achieve a common purpose; give life together with a process organized to achieve the established goals; plan and implement a program jointly; share fundamental information, risks and rewards.

The obligations of the individual partners and the concrete methods of partnership can be very different depending on the type of partnership, the legal nature of the same, the field of application, the intervention or the reference program.

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In the last decade of the twentieth century, for the first time, social interventions were developed taking into account partnerships, correlating them with two principles that still regulate European policies, and which characterize European welfare: 1. the consideration of the centrality of the person in the planning and planning; 2. respect for the territory and its actors in delineating the interventions, which must not come from above but start from the bottom according to a bottom up approach. As evidenced by the first principle, services and services must respond to the needs of citizens, so it is no longer possible to start from the services and actions to be implemented, when a program is outlined, but must consider the needs of people and implement appropriate actions to respond effectively and efficiently to their needs. Therefore, it is unthinkable to program according to a top-down approach, but it is necessary to reconcile the needs and the limits of the program with the territorial specificities in which the person lives. The social partnership, therefore, requires the Third sector to become more experienced in the way it operates, recognizing its involvement as necessary and equal, together with that of public and private organizations in the provision of efficient and effective services and performances; on the other hand, the public sector has the duty to enhance the Third sector, as a bearer of necessary and specific skills, as an equal and fundamental partner in the interventions dedicated to the inclusion and improvement of social well-being. The spread of partnership as a development agent and model of representation of social forces reflects a profound change that is investing in the management of international, national and territorial development processes. The causes of this phenomenon, which has affected a large part of Western processes, are due to factors of an economic nature, such as the globalization of markets and territorial competition, as well as socio-political factors deriving from the Welfare State crisis, from the institutional decentralization and from the territorialization of the social. The sustainable development agenda recognizes the social and political value of the partnership between governments, the private sector and civil society. These inclusive collaborations, built on principles and values, on a common vision and on shared objectives, which put people and the planet at the center, are necessary at global, national, regional and local levels to protect the environment and promote the adoption of a unified sustainable development strategy. A broad current of thought believes that the spread of the partnership must be traced back to the processes of institutional decentralization that have characterized the recent evolution of Western political systems, processes that in reality do not have exclusively political motivations (autonomy drives, crisis of representation of central institutions), but also depend on the difficulties that the central governing bodies encounter in setting up concrete and effective development projects on a local scale. This interpretation leads, therefore, to affirming that the direct participation of social forces in political decision-making processes is nothing more than a strategy of the central government to overcome the difficulties and conflicts that arise at the local level. Other authors argue, on the contrary, that in the development of the partnership the territorial component assumes a more relevant role, identifying in

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the public-private integration a process of re-appropriation of the decision-making power by the social subjects. In fact, it can be seen from the analysis of the various processes implemented that the partnership derives from a synthesis of both the aforementioned causes and it is precisely this that enhances its role and its potential in decision-making processes at various levels. We can identify different types of partnerships that are distinguished according to the objectives set, strategies of action and interests that push the different forces to act in a shared way, and they are: • The inter-state political partnership, which includes all those agreements between the central government and the local authorities that have the objective of an equitable sharing of political responsibilities and economic and social commitments within the institutional framework. Often, these forms of partnership are realized in real contracts between local authorities and the State. This definition derives from the fact that local authorities, to access public funding, must submit to the governmental authority a project of territorial development, which, once approved, constitutes the contractual basis for fulfilling the respective obligations; • The techno-productive partnership, which involves only the local level, in particular the universities, businesses and local authorities of the State. The main purpose of these agreements is to redeploy the local economy on a territorial basis, so as to develop an integrated and competitive production system; • The corporatist partnership, in which the associative base expands further. In fact, this typology involves the co-participation of all those who operate on the territory regardless of their effective operational involvement in local development processes. These agreements aim to promote and promote economic and social development through the valorisation and activation of territorial resources. The main characteristic of this partnership model is to produce a development company that contributes both to the definition of the intervention projects and to the management and control of the various phases for the realization of the projects themselves; • The associative partnership, which includes all the agreements between institutions and local communities that originate to define and implement interventions of a social and territorial nature. In most of the experiences deriving from such forms of public-private partnership, the initiative of the public body in promoting the formation of an association body plays an indispensable role, since the aim is precisely that of obtaining the involvement of all social forces., so as to reduce conflicts and encourage the implementation of territorial interventions. Therefore, the associative organization created not only participates in the realization of the intervention project, but becomes its guarantor towards the local community. All these types of partnership are united by two important elements: the constant reference to the territory and the importance given to the indispensable relationship between territorial resources, local communities and economic development. The dissemination of these agreements for socio-economic growth highlights how the partnership increasingly acquires an active role in the organization of the territory and in the management of local and global relations.

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5 Conclusion In recent decades, a gradual reduction in the management of the Public Administration’s power has taken place, as a consequence of the financial crisis and the spread of the principle that the production of public goods and services should progressively become the prerogative of free competition, the market and the initiative of the civil society. The Public Administration Sector has various tools for the fulfillment of public functions and services, among which are: strategic outsourcing or outsourcing, that is the practice adopted by public bodies to resort to private entities for carrying out some tasks in full autonomy, and contracting, that is the stipulation with the private of a public service contract for the realization of public functions without the recognition of its autonomy and responsibility. In the middle is the public-private partnership, used by the PA especially for the management of public services, which consists in creating a cooperative relationship and shared with the private, characterized by shared responsibility and financial commitment far, then, from a simple utility exchange. Currently, the public-private partnership is increasingly becoming so much that it is cited in numerous regulations and documents of the major international organizations, but it does not yet find a precise definition either in Community law or in the national one. However, in the Green Paper on Public-Private Partnerships and Community Law on Public Procurement and Concessions, published on 30 April 2004, the European Commission provides useful guidelines on the subject, stating that, by this term, it refers generally to forms of cooperation between public authorities and the business world, aimed at guaranteeing the financing, construction and management or maintenance of a public work, or public utility, and related services. PPP operations normally have the following characteristics: • the relatively long duration of public-private cooperation, which implies close collaboration regarding the various aspects of the project to be implemented; • funding modalities of the substantially private project, but sometimes also with public participation; • the importance of the role recognized to the private sector in every phase of the project (design, financing, implementation and management), while the public partner focuses mainly on defining the objectives to be achieved in terms of public interest, quality of services offered, pricing policy and ensures compliance with these objectives; • the distribution of risks between the public authority and the private entity, defined not on the basis of standard parameters, but rather on the basis of the parties’ ability to assess, control and manage the risks themselves. This means that the private person does not necessarily have to assume all the risks, or the most important part of these, related to the operation.

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The Green Paper also identifies two macro categories of partnerships, based on the different types of contracts used to implement the actions: the contractual partnership and the institutionalized partnership. The contractual partnership is based on exclusively conventional links between administrations and private individuals for the assignment of public works. In this context, one of the best known models is the concession model, which is characterized by the existence of a direct link between the private entity and the end user, providing a service to citizens in substitution and under the control of the public part. This model is also characterized by the methods of remuneration of the private sector, which derives the compensation from the amount collected by the users of the service. The institutionalized partnership consists in the creation of a new and original subject (mixed company or foundation of participation), jointly held by the public and private partners, who are entrusted with the task of ensuring the supply of a work or a service to of the community. With the issuing of the Green Paper, the Commission has provided a series of guidelines on the subject of public-private partnerships, without however identifying any specific legal definition that is precise and shared. However, it is possible to draw a unitary figure of international PPP based on its essential characteristics such as: • the typical objective, that is to stimulate investment in services, benefiting from the know-how of the private sector so as to favor technological development, innovation and efficiency also in the public sector; • the structure of the contract, which must be private in nature for the provision of public services, with private financial contribution and transfer of risks to the private sector. L’adozione di un modello societario di diritto privato permette di coinvolgere nei processi decisionali soggetti diversi, portatori di risorse finanziarie e tecnologiche e di competenze manageriali, tali da snellire le procedure interne ed enfatizzare l’obiettivo di redditività del servizio congiuntamente al miglioramento della qualità (Fabi et al. 2015).

Over the last ten years, the phenomenon of public-private partnership has developed in many sectors of the public sphere and the reasons for this are to be found precisely in the needs of: • innovative methods to overcome state budget restrictions, ensuring the contribution of private financing; • acquisition of specialized know-how from individuals; • awareness of the new role assumed by the States in the economy (from direct operator to regulator, organizer and controller); • improvement of the quality/price ratio of services for the community; • guarantee of the management of public services, especially at local level. The process of choosing a private partner presents a number of critical issues. The European Commission has therefore established that the conditions relating to the creation of the public-private entity are expressly described in a clear and detailed manner in the calls for proposals and respect, above all, of the principles of non-discrimination and free competition in the market.

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This is a directive aimed at guaranteeing and protecting the absolute equality and full transparency of public tender procedures. In some documents dealing with partnerships, we find the distinction between the Public Private Partnership (PPSP) and the Public Social Partnership (PPS). With regard to the Private Public Social Partnership, we can say that by including the social component within the PPP expression, the authors deviate from the meaning commonly given to the expression “social partnerships”, generally used to indicate the presence of trade union representatives workers or employers in partnerships, to affirm, instead, the strong involvement of the Third sector partners, so as to enhance the fundamental role they play in the direction and implementation of social programs and projects. The social component in the partnership assumes the role of guarantor of the achievement of public finality, of attention to deadlines, of planning and compliance with the conditions and resources necessary to obtain sustainable results, and all this always protecting the community and its well-being. Private-social partners are recognized as having a specific and particular role with respect to private individuals, as they are fundamental elements for the consolidation of interventions and programs aimed at improving people’s lives, environment and conditions, as well as social actors offering and network unique experiences and skills, giving a greater guarantee of services and solutions to disadvantaged people. Another type of partnership is the Public Social (PPS), which arises from the collaboration between public bodies and third sector organizations without the privateprofit component. The private partner in the PPP must provide funding and in turn collect the revenues, while in the PPS he can not make contributions and is called to collaborate as a volunteer without obtaining any kind of remuneration, thus giving added social value. As far as the public partner is concerned, the PPP must take care to provide the conditions for the return of the funds invested and provide funding for the project only ex post, while in the PPS he must make available all the financial resources for the project drawn up. The public-social partnership therefore also becomes a strategy to innovate the provision of public services through new forms of procurement and partnership between the public sector and civil society organizations. Therefore, in this typology the activation, by the public body, of collaborations with the Third sector is not intended to support and improve it, but rather to co-plan together and provide innovative, high quality public services, which meet the needs of individuals and local communities. By giving an equal role to the social organism, the social added value that this introduces and respects the necessary involvement of civil society in the design and provision of services is recognized and supported. PPS enables the delivery of public services more efficiently and with greater personal-centered results, putting co-production at the center of services design.

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References Altieri, A.: Valutazione e partecipazione. Metodologia per una ricerca interattiva e negoziale. Franco Angeli, Milano (2009) Battistella, A., De Ambrogio, U., Ranci Ortigosa, E.: Il piano di zona. Costruzione, gestione, valutazione. Carocci, Roma (2004) Brunod, M., Moschetti, M., Pizzardi, E. (a cura di): La coprogettazione sociale. Esperienze, metodologie e riferimenti normativi. Erickson, Trento (2016) De Ambrogio, U., Dessi, C., Ghetti, V.: Progettare e valutare nel sociale. Metodi ed esperienze. Carocci, Roma (2013) De Ambrogio, U., Guidetti, C.: La coprogettazione. La partnership tra pubblico e terzo settore. Carocci, Roma (2016) Donolo, C. (a cura di): Il futuro delle politiche pubbliche. Bruno Mondadori, Milano (2006) Fabi, F., Loiero, R., Profiti, F.: Il Partenariato Pubblico-Privato nell’ordinamento giuridico nazionale, comunitario ed internazionale. Dike Giuridica Editrice, Roma (2015) Ferrucci, F.: Capitale sociale e partnership tra pubblico, privato e terzo settore. Franco Angeli, Milano (2010) Merlo, G.: La programmazione sociale. Principi, metodi e strumenti. Carocci, Roma (2014) Pasotti, S., Scardigno, F.: Evaluation research and evaluativity in social planning: towards a fluent evaluation model. In: Maturo, A., Hoskova-Mayerova, S., Soitu, D., Kacprzyk, J. (eds.) Recent Trends in Social Systems: Quantitative Theories and Quantitative Models, XVI, pp. 361–370 (2017) Soitu, ¸ D., Johansen, K.J.: The space of innovation and practice on welfare, health and social care education and practice in Romania and Norway. Scientific Annuals of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Ia¸si (New Series) Sociology and Social Work, tom X no. 1, pp. 5–17 (2017). Available at: https://anale.fssp.uaic.ro/index.php/asas/article/view/456 Urban, R., Hoskova-Mayerova, S.: Threat life cycle and its dynamics. Deturope 9(2), 93–109 (2017) Venditti, M., Antonucci, G., Pasotti, S., Di Zio, S.: For a still “social” housing: the fluent governance. J. Civ. Eng. Archit. 9, 938–950. https://doi.org/10.17265/1934-7359/2015.08.007

Safe Landscape as an Ecological Subsystem Zdena Rosicka

Abstract This chapter is dealing with reasonable and friendly coexistence of landscape safety and tourism considering cultural, natural and industrial heritage preservation. Tourism, if carried out landscape-friendly, offers more positives and opportunities for dynamic growth of rural areas. The Czech Republic follows the ICOMOS documents legislation as well as Czech legislation and directives in force covering an extensive spectrum of monument care and preservation related to protection cultural, natural and industrial wealth; the Czech Republic legislation does not forget protection of animals and there are several acts covering this issue as well. Our nature taught that one should never doubt about its victory. Keywords Landscape · Tourism · Safety · Sustainability · Culture · Environment

1 Introduction Ecology is generally understood as a relationship between organisms and the environment; it becomes evident that a current mankind interest is primarily focused on a human of present as well as future generation. Therefore, the holistic approach should consider the environment as a whole regardless the fact what was created by last generations or has been or is being created by the present generation. The environment is also created within the landscape safety: unfortunately, it is threatened by events and emergencies, both of intentional and unintentional origin (Hoskova-Mayerova 2015; Hofmann and Hoskova-Mayerova 2016). Tourism as any other productive sector can reach disproportionate concentration: in that case the burden on the environment can be too high and might blindly lead de facto to a self-destruction. Hence, even in tourism, particularly for its dynamic growth, has to be adopted a strategy and ultimately a deeper philosophy of safe development. Tourism covers a wide spectrum of activities, utilizing the cultural, Z. Rosicka (B) Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University, Brno, Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 J. L. Sarasola Sánchez-Serrano et al. (eds.), Qualitative and Quantitative Models in Socio-Economic Systems and Social Work, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 208, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18593-0_37

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technical and natural attractions. It helps the region and supports greater profitability of very small businesses and at the same time makes municipalities and regions more competitive. Cultural sights are very numerous in some regions, including unusual field crosses, tree alleys or memorial trees. Rural tourism becomes very popular, allows gaining additional financial sources and creating new job positions. Decentralized accommodation offers visitors spreading all over the region and provides opportunities for special additional cultural or sport activities. Cultural, natural and technical industrial heritage of every advanced sophisticated country should become its inseparable component, whose sustainable keeping and preservation is in public interest; therefore, its protection has to be paid extremely careful attention to. Both historical and technical-origin monuments as well as wildlife and nature call for never-ending preservation, care and conservation. Many buildings, structures and preserved parts of industrial plants need upgrading to comply with current standards of safety and security because their viable use can be secured and at the same time it is beneficial and essential for their long-term protection; buildings have to be modified to meet the intention of current building safety regulations.

2 Rural Versus Urban The hunger for adventure, urge to travel is as old as humankind itself. Let us think of the great historian Herodotus who had roamed the ancient world, carefully examined customs in many lands and wrote his well-known “History”; we cannot forget Marco Polo, a young man from Venice, who set out with father for China and his memoirs opened the Far East to Europeans; at the same time, Ibn Battutah travelled about 75,000 miles and recorded his wanderings in the widely read “Travels”. Travel was once uncertain, dangerous and hazardous event: now, it is planned adventure due to the latest improvement and development in transportation, communication, IT technology and strict safety standards. Man used to live in nature and observe it. Many hundreds and thousand years ago people did not realize that they were the first ecologists because their fate depended on the quality of observed and learnt facts, therefore, what the chance of the survival was. A European landscape is the result of mutual forces of man and nature; finally, the nature resulted in miscellanea of gardens, fields, meadows, forests, and farmhouses. Since the 19th century more people move into towns and cities as a result of industrial and population growth; currently, more than one half of mankind lives in cities. Speaking about tourism, people mostly prefer rural areas to densely populated urban districts. Where does the expression rural come from? What does it mean? In terms of etymology, it comes from Old French ‘rural’, Latin ‘r¯ur¯alis’; using Robert Baar’s explanation from 1913 book Lord Stranleigh Abroad, we can find an illustrating comparison: “Nothing can be more business-like than the construction of the stout dams, and nothing more gently rural than the limpid lakes, with the grand

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old forest trees marshalled round their margins” (Barr 1913) Wikipedia offers the explanation as follows: “Rural areas are areas which are not towns or cities. They are often farming or agricultural areas. These areas are sometimes called the ‘country’ or ‘countryside’. Rural is the opposite of urban (Rural area 2018). Further explanations characterize rural areas as open swaths of land with few homes or other buildings, and not very many people. A rural area population density is very low. Many people live in a city or urban areas. Wildlife is more frequently found in rural areas than in cities because of the absence of people and buildings. In fact, rural areas are often called the country because residents can see and interact with the country’s native wildlife. It is evident that despite many characteristics, it is a problem to find a definition characterizing unambiguously what the term ‘rural’ means. In sociological, demographical, urban or geographical resources can be found different modifications of ‘rural areas’ where various criteria are applied differently. The Sociology Laboratory at the Czech University of life Sciences in Prague developed the criteria of defining rural settlements as follows:

Criterion

Main feature

Urban structure

Low building density, agricultural settlement, extensive public spaces, low ration of built-up areas

Architectonic features

Low-rise buildings, residential and other functions are integrated, negligible rental housing, individual buildings

Social features

Conservatism, traditionalism, neighbourly relations, participation, cooperation, sharing common history

Economic features

Commuting, employment in agriculture, do-it-yourself movement

Public administration

Municipality position in the public administration structure

Size features

Population density, built-up space

Binek et al. (2007)

3 Cultural Heritage Protection and Preservation The mass of information is unlimited; it is available to satisfy the traveller’s curiosity and his or her first interest is just where to go and what to see. The government of every advanced country is keen to encourage tourism and support development of various regions. In the Czech Republic, the Czech Tourist Authority CTA is responsible for promoting our country and raises its profile both at home and abroad.

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The Czech Republic is easily accessible, especially for visitors from European countries. The Czech Republic offers a wide spectrum of tourist attractions to its visitors. There are over 2000 castles and chateaus, and 10% are opened to the public. Many Czech towns and cities are proud of their historical centres; Prague, Kutna Hora, Telc, Cesky Krumlov and others appear on the UNESCO Heritage List. Nature and wildlife lovers will enjoy the chance to enjoy winter and summer holidays in the National Park Krkonose, Ceske Svycarsko, Sumava or Podyji where valuable animal and plant life is strictly protected. Various wildlife regions also offer opportunities for sport, game hunting or fishing. From a bird’s eye view you will see 20,000 lakes and over forty water basins. Agro-tourism as well as technical industrial heritage tourism is becoming important parts of the Czech Republic tourism industry as well. The Czech Republic offers the technical industrial heritage, which represents preserved examples of industrial and production activities, scientific and research experience from long history of industries dated back to Austria-Hungarian time: silver mines, foundries, horse-drawn railway, breweries, water management works. Resulting from the Nizhny Tagil Charter for the Industrial Heritage, this type of heritage has to be protected for furthers sustainable use. Variable routes of technical industrial heritage, industrial facilities, which are not in regular use any longer follow requirements of the European ERIH project and promote technical industrial history, which can be studied, explored and extend the range of attractive tourism destinations. The Czech Republic follows the ICOMOS documents legislation as well as Czech legislation and directives in force, in particular the heritage law effective from 1/1/1988 and the draft law on the protection of heritage fund, approved by the Government on 20 November 2015. However, one requirement in a heritage protection should always be followed: a monument must not remain isolated; it must become a part of a living presence, be involved in current affairs, serve for the benefit of all and attract educated tourism community as an inseparable part of cultural wealth of the country. The national priorities related to monument preservation should include the preparation of new legislation in terms of monuments preservation and protection of the archaeological heritage and finds, digitisation of the cultural monuments, periodical preventive inspections of security systems at monument sites, and implementation of the European Landscape Convention. The cultural heritage science, care and its protection should also be gradually implemented in the elementary as well as secondary school curricula. The Czech Republic legislation covers an extensive spectrum of monument care and preservation; these are, e.g., the Act on State Monument Preservation No. 20/1987 Coll., (The Act on State Monument Preservation 1987) as amended, including decree of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Socialist Republic No. 66/1988 Coll., (Decree of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Socialist Republic 1988), which implements the act of the Czech National Council No. 20/1987 Coll., on State Monument Preservation (The act of the Czech National Council 1987), and Decree of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic No. 420/2008 Coll., (Decree of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic 2008) regulates the content and requirements of the plan for the protection of heritage zones and reservations; there are also

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acts in force dealing with the return of cultural assets unlawfully removed from the territory, export of some cultural assets from the customs territory of the European Communities (No. 180/2003 Coll., No. 101/2001 Coll., No. 214/2002 Coll.). The Czech Republic preservation system results from decentralizing and delegating executive powers to approximately 205 municipalities with extended competences. The Ministry of Culture develops concepts for the monument preservation development and ensures financial assistance programmes for monument owners. The National Heritage Institute founded by the Ministry of Culture provides expert advisory service to municipalities and regions; the service is free of charge for the owners of monuments. It organises scientific research, maintains the Central List of Cultural Monuments, extends the monuments documentation, collects restoration and archaeological research reports; it also ensures presentation and preservation of castles, former monasteries, chateaus, vernacular buildings, industrial sites, historic gardens and parks that are accessible to almost 5,000,000 visitors per year. The list of natural cultural heritage is extended almost every year; in 2017, 15 items were added and 336 both movable and immovable were listed in the National Heritage Institute Catalogue. In 2017, The Ministry of Culture submitted 19 sacral structures, areas and places of pilgrimage and those were approved in January 2018: there is always a certain trend followed and monuments of particular type “compete” to get on the list. The long-term effort is to include in the ensemble of national cultural monuments the most prominent representatives of all types and groups of cultural monuments, so that the group could give a complete picture of the wide spectrum of the Czech Republic cultural heritage.

4 Safe Sustainable Tourism The cultural, natural, industrial, both movable and immovable heritage can be presented and interpreted using various communication tools: exhibition, guided tour, experience tourism activity, educational or cultural tourism event. However, the less attractive significance—the more sophisticated interpretation tool should be selected. Each monument, exhibition or exposition, regardless it is of industrial, natural or cultural origin, must have its own story, which has to be offered under reasonable and best fitting circumstances. Information technologies offer new methods of presentation and this fact might attract particularly the young generation to get to know how our parents, relatives and ancestors lived, worked and behaved. High share of tourism in gross domestic product requires local “attractive cultural goods” which should engage in the economic process and qualified experts with multicultural and economy knowledge. These specialists are gradually becoming a part of municipalities, and, are trying not to underestimate issues covering the importance of cultural resources for economic recovery of a region. Municipalities, towns, cities, industrial centres and plants had been created during a many-hundred-year period and the development was progressing slowly. Nowadays, developers are waiting for benefits and profits and the legislation is often

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insufficiently unambiguous and is able destroy irreplaceable values in several years. However, changes cannot be stopped, and valuable buildings as well as technical industrial structures need upgrading to comply with current standards of safety and security. To find a good solution to improve safety and security without harming the cultural and technical industrial heritage value of a place means to follow a logical and systematic approach: to establish the significance of the place, undertake the audit of current safety and security conditions, specify diagnostic techniques, prepare a safety and security policy, and to prepare a schedule. There are still some barriers rooted at municipalities: poor communication and ‘passive’ resistance, which usually changes in the moment of critical situation (fire, flood, etc.) The focus of the 1996–99 ICOMOS triennium—The wise use of heritage—offered an admirable framework for increasing the attention given to cultural heritage at risk and communication related. Preventive approaches extend the life of cultural heritage at a smaller long-term cost; authenticity is maintained at higher levels if refashioning steps can be avoided. Improving preventive measure-focused communication offers many benefits: adopting a heritage-at-risk framework refocuses conservation attention from the curative to the preventive. Every region should aim at re-defying the place and role of cultural, natural and industrial heritage with a view to consider three basic components: – social component, which can make heritage a means of promoting diversity, offer better autonomy to heritage communities and implement participative governance, – knowledge and education component, which can promote lifelong education through the heritage knowledge centres and research programmes, – territorial and economic development component, which could support heritage and contribute to economic and territorial development resulting from local resources, employment and tourism (Namur Declaration 2015).

5 Safety for Everyone Landscape, water, fire and floods, it is the theme as old as humankind. Human foolishness is boundless and even our ancestors were not a hundred percent wise. They lived in much closer contact with the landscape and they knew not to construct houses on the flood plain if it was not necessary. Old chronicles as well as stories told from generation to generation show hundreds of cases of losses of life and damage to property. Since that time the population has grown and the material damage is on the increase as well. Fortunately, loss of life is decreasing. Nevertheless, we must shake our heads and cannot believe that people construct repeatedly their houses on the same site where a flood washed it away as if such as situation would never repeat. Experts are trying to develop highly sophisticated warning systems; however, there are some people who pay no heed and others must risk their lives. Timely evacuation can solve a lot as well as boats and helicopters with rescue teams. After the flood,

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the most critical and painful time comes. Water has disappeared and it left behind dirt, mud, damage and dead bodies of animals. Houses can be built again, possessions can be replaced but animals, livestock and pets cannot. Therefore, we should be prepared for pets’ and animals’ needs and think of them when evacuation plans are processed. In the Czech Republic those are particularly floods, which cause most harm and damage often resulting in human and living beings tragedies. Large water flooded in August 2002 almost a half of a Prague zoo in Troja. When the water level culminated, at some places in the zoo the water level was more than 10 meters above the ground. Zoo employees succeeded in evacuating 1029 animals. Unfortunately, it was not possible to save all; a total of 134 animals did not survive the flood. The public could see in the garden meaning and the tragedy has been “exploited” and the garden has been gradually rebuilt to the best of the 21st century zoo. Unfortunately, for small municipalities are no well-prepared and trained rescue teams available; however when people are willing to help, even a small town is able to tackle the unfavourable situation (Hoskova-Mayerova 2016). August 2010 was another tragic example of how heavy unexpected rain could kill and smash in a short time houses and parts of villages in the north of Bohemia. Keeping in mind and following several steps, we are able to ensure that members of the family, i.e. human and animal can be protected and treated adequately in case an emergency occurs. An evacuation plan incorporating animals should be in place because chaos and fear are usually accompanying factors; animals behave differently from their typical behavioral patterns and sometimes it is very complicated to control them, locate and save (Figs. 1 and 2).

Fig. 1 The river Balinka spilled over and flooded the street in 3 h 1 m high

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Fig. 2 Flooded street 3 h later. Water smashed kennels and other animal shelters

A disaster comes and we have to respond and act almost immediately; evacuation plan that is prepared in advance is very useful to stop panic, and encourages us to follow logical steps without any hesitation. Micro chipped animals and pets are easier to find if a microchip contains sufficient information. In an emergency, if animals can smell smoke and a disaster approaching, they try to escape despite strict training and they are not willing to listen to us at all. We should specify where our pets would be evacuated and temporarily accommodated; we can relocate animals early rather than under time pressure and risking their safety (Rosicka 2010; Hoskova-Mayerova et al. 2013a, b; Talhofer et al. 2013; Hofmann et al. 2013). The Czech Republic legislation does not forget protection of animals and there are several acts covering this issue: Decree No. 346/2006 Coll., on laying down more detailed conditions on keeping and training of animals (Decree No. 346/2006 Coll.); Decree No. 4/2009 Coll., on the protection of animals during transport (took effect on 7 Jan 2009) (Decree No. 4/2009 Coll.); Council Regulation (EC) No. 1/2005 of 22 December 2004 on the protection of animals during transport and related operations (Council Regulation (EC) No. 1/2005) and amending Directives 64/432/EEC and 93/119/EC and Regulation (EC) No. 1255/97. Our nature taught that one should not doubt about its victory. An emergency can happen anytime, regardless the season of the year, time of the day; it comes and strikes, usually without any warning.

6 Conclusion Landscape as an ecological subsystem considered from the holistic point of view can sufficiently thrive, flourish and benefit from tourism potentials if treated adequately.

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Tourism potentials can be viewed both primary, secondary and tertiary; they offer natural and social specificities of the region: primary potentials may offer climate different plant and animal species, hydrology, architecture, cultural events, local cuisine, folklore and habits. Secondary potentials can bring income, improve employment and help to diversify rural landscape and increase attractiveness for both residents and tourists: destination management as well as local and strategic planning are of high importance. Tertiary potentials result from organizational abilities of local authorities to develop, improve and cooperate in transport, retail trade and other branches encouraging development of rural areas, maintaining cultural objects, and applying the environmental friendly approach to priceless and threatened landscape.

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